This blog represents the views of the author, David Fosberry. Those opinions may change over time. They do not constitute an expert legal or financial opinion. New entries will appear when I have time, and when inspiration strikes.
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Posted on 29th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This article on Ars Technica reports on problems encountered by some Linux users, caused by a recent update issued by Microsoft. Typically for Microsoft, the problematic patch is meant to fix a high severity vulnerability that has been known about for 2 years, which MS has only just now addressed. The update makes changes to GRUB, which is the boot loader used by Linux, and by dual-boot (Linux and Windows) systems, so the problems are only being experienced by users with a dual-boot set-up on their PCs. Such problems are one of the reasons why I don't use dual-boot. I am not saying that the GRUB vulnerability didn't need fixing; it did, two years ago (by someone on the Linux side - I am not sure why this didn't happen)! Also, GRUB is not a piece of MS software, so it is rather cheeky of MS to patch it, and outrageous for them to break it with their patch. I experimented with dual-boot when I first started using Linux, but quickly changed to using virtual machines (VMs). Most power users of computers have good reasons to want to use both Windows and Linux. In my case these reasons include:
There are several tools for running VMs:
Here are some of my pages about virtualisation: If you want to try out virtual machines, I would very strongly recommend running them on a Linux host (Ubuntu is probably the safest and easiest; when installing Linux remember to create a swap partition), not on a Windows host. Technically, it is possible to turn an existing Windows installation into a virtual machine disc image, but I have never managed to make this work, so you will probably want a Windows installation disc. Check out the "How To Virtualise" guide above, plus there is lots of help available online. |
Posted on 28th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
Business Insider reports that the CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), a major provider of cloud services, has warned that, within as little as two years, AI could take over much of the software programming work at the company. If this happens, the change could spread throughout the software industry very quickly, and put many developers out of work. One problem with this idea is that the track record of AI in writing code is not very good; I am not convinced that AI is mature enough to fulfill this role. Then again, human programmers also have a rather spotty record, as shown by the Crowdstrike incident. If and when AI becomes capable and reliable enough to take over a major part of the coding workload, I have an idea where it should be used. Banks and financial institutions rely on extremely old code written almost exclusively in COBOL. COBOL is an obsolete language which is no longer taught to programmers, which means that that experienced COBOL coders are hard to find ("like rocking-horse shit") and very expensive. Since there is always maintenance work to be done on this legacy code (to repair bugs, and to adapt to changes in data exchange standards), the exorbitant costs of such changes are passed on to customers (us!). We should give the COBOL coding work to AI, before the few remaining experienced COBOL programmers finally retire, die or become incapable due to dementia. |
Posted on 21st August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
Boeing has yet more problems! The company has paused testing of its 777X (the latest version of the 777) after discovering structural problems, as reported by CNN. Typically, structural problems are time-consuming and expensive to fix when discovered late in the development process, as in this case. They require analysis, redesign, modeling of the new structure, testing (both in test rigs and in the aircraft). Retrofitting the replacement part (or parts) will always be expensive for structural changes, involving extensive rebuilds of the 4 test aircraft. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is also likely to carefully scrutinise the 777X even more carefully in the light of this news, before certifying the plane to enter service. Boeing has already been showing the 777X at airshows and making sales (no deliveries yet), and customers are likely to have to wait even longer to receive their new airliners. Boeing's troubles never seem to end; the company has lost $33 billion since 2019! |
Posted on 17th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
"Better Sight Without Glasses" is the title of a book by Harry Benjamin, first published in 1929 (a PDF version is available here), based on an earlier book by William Horatio Bates, "The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses" (or "Perfect Sight Without Glasses"), first published in 1920. Harry Benjamin cured himself of extreme myopia (shortsightedness) using a combination of the eye exercises devised by Bates (the Bates method) and diet. The work of Benjamin and Bates is nowadays often considered to be fringe science, but some of it now forms the basis of modern ophthalmology. Bates' theories of how the eye works have been thoroughly debunked. My father, like myself, was longsighted, and used the Bates method to great effect to reduce his dependence on glasses. I didn't need glasses until I suffered a stroke which impacted my ability to focus on near objects, and also found the Bates method very effective. I started researching the Bates method for a friend, and found a Wikipedia page and was surprised to read that "The Bates method is an ineffective and potentially dangerous alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight". Elsewhere, I read that the Bates method is based on relaxation, which is demonstrably not the case. I can only conclude that much of the published material is little more than propaganda. Eye ExercisesI have found the eye exercises to be effective, as has everyone that I know who has tried them. For people with vision problems, a typical scenario is that you get glasses or contact lenses to, as much as possible, perfect your vision, and a couple of years later your eyesight has become worse so you do it all again. At the very least, eye exercise are likely to slow down or stop the deterioration of your eyesight; many people report gradual improvement, with some eventually able to do without corrective lenses. If you decide to try any of the eye exercises, you only need to do 10 minutes per day. These are not cardio-exercises, so you don't need to do all 10 minutes in one go, so you can do them when you have a couple of minutes waiting at traffic lights, at your desk or walking. If you feel that the exercises are straining your eyes, pause them or change them to cause less strain (i.e. instead of focusing on something 3 feet away, focus om something 5 feet away). Focusing ExercisesFocus on something in the distance for about 2 seconds, then on something close for about 2 seconds, and repeat. Choose near and far objects that you can focus on, with adequate lighting and clear edges/contrast. If you cannot properly focus on objects at 3 feet, chose something further away; if you can't focus on something far away, choose something a little nearer. Normally, exercise both eyes together. If one eye is much worse than the other, you can exercise each eye separately, covering the other eye. Eye Alignment ExercisesThere are two aspects to eye alignment: alignment when looking up/down/left/right, and alignment while changing focus. To improve your eye alignment while looking up, down, left and right, look straight ahead and focus on something that is at an easy focusing distance for 2 seconds, then look in another direction and focus for 2 seconds, then go back to looking straight ahead, then look in a different direction, and so on until you have looked in each direction. Then repeat. To improve your eye alignment while changing focus, focus on something near for 2 seconds, and then something distant for 2 seconds, and then repeat. When doing these eye alignment exercises, concentrate on aligning your eyes to remove any double vision, but not to the extent that you strain your eyes. Exercises to Adapt to Changes in Light LevelsThis is the only exercise that could damage your eyesight, so please be careful. Focus on something brightly lit (not the sun, a clear sky or a light source), e.g. something outdoors, for 2 seconds, and then on something less well lit (but not dark), e.g. something indoors, for 2 seconds, then repeat. |
Posted on 15th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Monkeypox). |
Mpox (the new name for monkey pox) hasn't been in the news for a while, but now the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global health emergency (their highest level of alert) for mpox, as reported by the BBC. A new variant of the virus, "Clade 1b", is more infectious and more deadly (up to 10% of people infected), and is spreading rapidly in parts of Africa, with more than 13,700 cases of mpox, and at least 450 deaths, in the DR Congo alone. There is obviously concern that it could spread beyond Africa. There is also a risk that even deadlier mutations will appear, in the same way as with Covid-19. |
Posted on 15th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
Although this vulnerability, reported on CyberSecurityNews, sounds bad (it allows attackers to remotely execute code on your computer without you clicking anything), it will not affect most users, and Microsoft has already issued a patch. The issue only affects the IPv6 protocol, and only on Windows computers. Many users still do not have IPv6 (virtually every computer supports IPv6, but not all ISPs support the protocol). You are only at risk if your Windows machine has an exposed (to the Internet) IPv6 address. Modern Internet modems have a firewall to prevent external access to your devices IPv6 addresses unless you explicitly expose them, which you would only do if you are offering services like a web-server or an FTP server to Internet users. If you are, you should apply the patch immediately. |
Posted on 13th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Space Technology). |
Not only do Boeing have problems with their aircraft manufacturing business, with two major fatal air crashes, safety incidents and quality problems, but they also have huge issues with their projects for NASA. The StarlinerFor several years, the only way that crew could be delivered to and brought back from the International Space Station (ISS) was using Russian spacecraft. Given the state of political and financial relations with Russia, this solution was not acceptable, so NASA commissioned two companies, SpaceX and Boeing, to produce alternatives. Boeing's system, the Starliner, has been plagued with problems, and is currently docked with the ISS and is not considered safe to use to bring the two astronauts it carried into orbit home again. The original mission was planned to be 8 days, but it is now likely that the astronauts will be stranded until next year. Bearing in mind that their luggage was removed just before launch, and substituted with essential spare parts, and that there are no laundry facilities on the ISS, I don't think that their stay in space is fun. NASA have suggested that the astronauts could be brought home on the next SpaceX mission, with the Starliner being flown back to earth unmanned; Boeing, of course, are not happy with that plan. It has now emerged, as reported on Quartz, that " Boeing removed the Starliner’s autonomous undocking feature from its software", making an unmanned return impossible. Boeing have offered to roll out an update to correct this problem, but NASA are worried that could introduce other problems. The New Moon RocketNASA has a long term project to return to people to the moon. This, of course, involves a new rocket, the Space Launch System. The launcher is a multi-stage rocket, with each stage being developed by a different subcontractor. One of those subcontractor is Boeing, who are responsible for the upper stage. The Space Launch System is currently running 3 years late, with a 200% budget overrun, and Boeing are being blamed for the lion's share of the delay and overspend. Boeing is blamed for shoddy work, according to this report on Futurism, and for mismanagement and an inexperienced workforce, according to this report on Flyingmag. The FalloutHow much longer can Boeing stay in business by stumbling from one crisis to another? Personally, I think that the chickens will come home to roost in about 18 months. This is (only just) long enough to see if Boeing's new CEO makes any improvement. In the meantime, Boeing's share price will continue to slide, and the market share in aviation will continue to wither away; reduced stock market valuation will make it very difficult to get investment in a very investment intensive business, making it impossible for them to start new projects . I see 4 possible outcomes:
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Posted on 9th August 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This report on Forbes has some details about the law suit by Delta Air Lines. Delta had to cancel 5,500 flights as a result of the Crowdstrike outage, and claims that it suffered losses of $500 million. It has sued Crowdstrike and Microsoft, as I predicted. It seems clear that both Crowdstrike and Microsoft are responsible:
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Posted on 31st July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread. |
Since March 2024, Cannabis has technically been legal, but not much has changed. It is now legal to posses pot, up to a limit (25 grams on one's person and 50 grams at home). It is also legal to smoke it in public, as long as one is not close to a school, playground or other place with children. Many people thought that the change in German law would usher in a system like in the Netherlands, where there are Coffee Shops selling pot in every city, or many states in the USA, where there are dispensaries selling all manner of Cannabis products, but that is not how things now work in Germany. CBD products (CBD oil and CBD cannabis), which are useful for dealing with pain, calming nerves and helping with sleep, have actually been fully legal for longer than that, as long as the THC content is no more than 0.2%. CBD will not get you high, and no-one takes CBD for pleasure. You can easily buy CBD products in shops or online. For pain control, however, THC is more effective than CBD. Cannabis containing THC is another matter. It remains illegal to buy or sell cannabis with more than 0.2% THC. THC is illegal for people under 18, and people aged 18 to 21 are limited to cannabis of up to 20% THC content. The only way to get pot containing THC in Germany is to grow it, either at home, or in shared grow-facilities at cannabis clubs. Excess product cannot be sold, but may be given away to other members of the same club. Clubs are limited to 500 members, and must be registered with the government. The total harvest of a club is limited, and excess harvest must be destroyed. The new law made it legal to grow cannabis from the 1st July 2024, but so far not a single grow-licence has been issued (clubs need to be licensed, individuals do not), although virtually all applied for one as soon as it was possible. Germany is notorious for having slow and inefficient bureaucracies, so I don't expect grow-licences to issued any time soon. One of the government's justifications for legalisation is to stamp out the illegal drug trade, but since no-one can get cannabis (with THC) legally anywhere in Germany, and won't be able to any time soon, the illegal pot trade is still thriving. You can easily and legally buy cannabis seeds, including strains with high THC content, but they take at least 3 months to mature. |
Posted on 27th July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
By now, most people must be aware of the huge incident of computer downtime that started on the 18th July 2024. The lives of very many people were affected by the massive downtime of Windows computers around the world. Systems used by airlines, banks, health services, payment systems, hotel chains and many other industries were impacted. Microsoft estimates that 8.5 million systems worldwide were brought down by the issue, according to this report on the BBC. The scale of the incident dwarfs the impacts of any malware attack, and is the largest single cyber-incident ever. Microsoft are clearly very embarrassed by the incident, and were quick to explain that they were not responsible for the system outages, which is only partially true. Then MS tried to blame the EU as described here on Euronews (which the EU have since denied). Also, unusually, MS rolled out software to assist in system recovery (in far less time than it normally takes for them to address problems). Most computer users were previously unaware of CrowdStrike. The problem was with CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor software, which is a type of cybersecurity software (similar to anti-virus software); more strictly, the fault was with a data file used by Falcon Sensor, rather than the software itself. This video on YouTube gives a very accessible summary of how Falcon Sensor works, and why a faulty data file could cause such enormous problems. In addition to crashing systems (leading to the "blue screen of death"), it appears that system backups were affected on some systems, according to this report on Reuters. CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor is used by large corporations to protect their systems: Windows, Linux, and to a lesser extent Mac systems, so the bug did not affect private computers. In this case the issue only impacted Windows server and client (desktop and laptop) systems. It should be noted, however, that earlier this year a similar problem started to affect Debian Linux systems, as described in this report on Techspot and this article on Tom's Hardware. Also, in 2010 a global Windows PC meltdown (described here on BGR) was sparked by a bungled McAfee (anti-virus software) update; at the time, the CTO of McAfee was George Kurtz, the man who's now the CEO of CrowdStrike! All this strongly suggests that George Kurtz has a very cavalier attitude to software quality, and is the real source of the problems. As described in the video above, Falcon Sensor works via a driver which runs at the operating system kernel level. This driver is extensively tested and certified by Microsoft. Unfortunately, there is no such validation by Microsoft of the data (similar to the malware signature file used by your anti-virus software) which caused the outages. This kind of data file, which controls the behaviour of Falcon Sensor, is referred to in the software industry as reference data. I have extensive experience of software testing, and I know from experience that, for data-driven software, comprehensive testing of such reference data is even more important than testing of the software that uses it. Clearly, the testing of the reference data was, on this occasion, not adequate; it turns out that the file was full of zeros, which should have been easy enough to detect! The process of recovery from the bug is complex and time consuming (requiring multiple reboots), requires administrator privileges and rolls back the protections provided by Falcon Sensor to the state before the update. Even now, more than a week after it all began, system recovery has not been completed for 100% of affected systems. The impact on people's lives is enormous, and financial losses are huge:
Companies are already talking about suing CrowdStrike to recover their losses. Good luck with that: the company is not rich enough to pay the losses, and will probably be driven into bankruptcy. If you own shares in CrowdStrike, now would be the time to divest. I would not be surprised if some corporations also tried to sue Microsoft, for allowing data driven software to run at the kernel level without them validating the associated reference data. Finally, just to rub salt in the wound, this report on The Guardian suggests that this kind of issue is likely to happen again. Maybe war (nuclear or conventional), climate change, global pandemics or the AI apocalypse are not what will wipe out civilisation, but rather faulty software. |
Posted on 14th July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This report on The London Economic very comprehensively spells out the decline in Britain post Brexit. The headline really captures the situation: "There is [mould] in the walls and shit in the rivers, posh butter in the supermarkets has anti-theft tags stuck to it, the trains run on schedule about half the time." There is, however, much more, and it is well worth reading the article. Most Brits are still in denial about Brexit, complaining that they are worse off but unable to admit that the did it to themselves by voting for Brexit. Is that much vaunted British sovereignty really worth the increase in the costs of living and the reduction in the quality of life? I think not. |
Posted on 14th July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
This article on Newsweek reports on the experiences at Boeing of a whistleblower. I have seen similar reports elsewhere. The whistleblower, Santiago Paredes, worked at Boeing and Spirit (a Boeing subcontractor). One of the things he said was "Many employees are afraid to fly on planes they helped build because they knew how they were constructed and the defects they had. This fear reflects a problematic culture within Spirit and Boeing." This is extremely worrying. Boeing's problems continue to get worse:
Although it is not likely that the US government will allow the total collapse of Boeing, the company will probably be unrecognisable after all the chickens come home to roost. |
Posted on 14th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
This video is a news report from "9 News" in Australia. It describes two recent air safety incidents. The first incident was a bad case of turbulence on an LATAM flight from Sydney to Auckland, in which many people were injured as they were thrown first against the ceiling and then onto the floor. Turbulence is not unusual, especially in that part of the world, and shows why airlines strongly recommend that passengers keep their seat belts fastened while seated (although that wouldn't have helped the poor guy who was injured in the toilet). I feel sympathy for the passengers (those injured and those simply scared), but turbulence cannot be blamed on Boeing. What is much more worrying is the statement by the pilot that all his instruments went dark for a few seconds when the turbulence hit. The times that instruments are most important are when something unusual and dangerous happens, and such a failure could increase the consequences of any incident. Modern aircraft like the 787 use virtual instruments, where data such as airspeed, altitude etc. are displayed on electronic monitors in the cockpit, rather than on dedicated physical instruments. This has a number of advantages, including better use of the display real estate in the cockpit (instruments can be hidden at times when they are not needed), but also introduces several single points of failure which can cause all instruments to be lost, as in this case. The fact that such a failure occurred simply due to some turbulence is extremely concerning. Turbulence is most common during landing and take-off, and this incident suggests that pilots could lose all their instruments during those critical and high risk phases of the flight. The other incident involved a United Airline flight from Sydney to San Francisco, this tine on a Boeing 777. The flight turned back due to what appeared to be a leak of hydraulic fluid from the undercarriage which caused smoke to come from one of the wheels. United blamed this on a "maintenance issue". This doesn't appear, at first glance, to be so critical, but on closer inspection is also extremely dangerous. Hydraulics are used to activate brakes, to raise and lower the undercarriage, and most importantly to operate the control surfaces (on the wings and tail) that pilots use to control the aircraft. A leak of hydraulic fluid is therefore potentially disastrous. So, to summarise, there have been air safety incidents with 737 Max, 777 and 787 aircraft. Personally, I am not eager to fly on any Boeing plane right now. |
Posted on 14th July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Phys.Org describes a new study on drinking water quality in Europe, which shows high levels of TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) (a byproduct of the breakdown of PFAS, used in pesticides and refrigeration) in bottled and tap water in 11 EU countries. The study by the Water Technology Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany, found TFA in 34 of 36 tap water samples and in 12 of the 19 bottled mineral and spring waters. The concentrations detected far exceed the levels currently considered safe, in many of the samples. I don't currently have a list of which waters were tested, but the odds are that many of the polluted brands of bottled water are also sold in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. There were already concerns about the safety of drinking water in many countries, with previous studies showing chemical and biological contamination detected in Europe, Britain and the USA. Is there nothing left in this world that is safe to eat or drink? Have we really messed up our planet so badly? |
Posted on 10th July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
I cook a lot of Indian and other spicy food at home, so this report on Latestly is particularly worrying. "The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has canceled the manufacturing licenses of 111 spice makers, effective immediately, due to the presence of ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing pesticide ...". The pesticide was detected in spice samples from India in overseas markets. |
Posted on 10th July 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
Cloud computing has been a growing trend in industry over the last few years. This report on the BBC seems to totally misunderstand the concept of cloud computing. The author suggests that the heyday of cloud computing is over, as companies move away from the cloud, for reasons of cost. This is illustrated with the example of software firm 37signals, which has saved more than $1m per year. The truth is that the company has moved from an outsourced cloud service to an insourced (private) cloud, but it is still cloud. Outsourcing has been a major trend in all industries for several decades, and the cost benefits are often questionable. 37signals is simply the latest firm to realise this, and to have the courage to make the necessary change. |
Posted on 16th June 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
There already plenty of questions about whether veganism is really health, including:
There is a constant stream of cases hitting the news where at risk people like in the list above (especially children) end up being malnourished. Now, to give people one more thing to worry about, there is this report on The Telegraph. The food industry has responded to the demand for vegan food that looks, feels and tastes like meat by producing a range of ultra-highly processed (UHP) vegan food: companies like Impossible Food, Beyond Meat, etc. We ourselves occasionally use fake mince (called Muhlenhack in Germany). It turns out that UHP vegan foods are not very healthy; the processing makes it hard for us to absorb the nutrients (this is actually true for non-vegan UHP foods too). The answer, of course, is what our mothers and grandmothers always said: everything in moderation and nothing to excess; a balanced diet. It is not healthy to eat too much meat, but it is equally unhealthy to eat no meat at all. Sheryl and I usually eat vegetarian (not usually vegan - we are way too addicted to cheese to be vegan) dinners about three days a week. When we severely cut down on meat, we both had problems of lack of energy, caused by lack of vitamin B12. We do sometimes buy UHP products (fake mince or Beyond Burgers about once per month), but we balance that with meat or fish on some days, raw vegetables and fresh ingredients in our cooking. |
Posted on 16th June 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This article on CNN reports on testimony by the president of Microsoft to the US House Homeland Security Committee, in which he "accepts responsibility for each and every one" of the cybersecurity failures that were listed in a recent US government-backed report. The report by the US Cyber Safety Review Board "found that Microsoft committed a 'cascade' of 'avoidable errors' that allowed Chinese hackers to breach the tech giant’s network and later the email accounts of senior US officials last year, including the secretary of commerce." This is only what I have been writing for some time now: that MS has a poor commitment to cybersecurity, and are incompetent and slow at fixing security issues. Governments already have an abysmal track record of keeping secrets, including those of their citizens and allies; they certainly don't need corporations making things even worse by opening governments' cyber-doors to hackers. For me, an apology and commitment to improve is not going to suffice; ask me again when Microsoft have actually improved. The US government is probably the largest paying customer for Microsoft products, so I am sure that MS does care; the question is, whether can they improve, and if so, how quickly and comprehensively. Some local governments are already changing their systems over to Linux and Libre Office, so MS has only a limited window of opportunity to improve. |
Posted on 7th June 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This article on Windows Central make a valid point: that Microsoft has lost the trust of its users. I am only surprised that it has taken so long for this to happen. I lost trust in Microsoft many years ago. The article lists several things that have contributed to this loss of trust:
I would add to that list with:
I am sure that many readers can add more to the list, from their own experience. With the knowledge that MS does not want us to use Windows (discussed in the post directly below), the failures, annoyances and attitude that has led to loss of user trust looks more like a deliberate strategy than failure. In the operating system market, Microsoft makes most of its revenue from corporate customers, and almost nothing from private customer (most of whom get Windows already installed when they buy a PC, and which is licenced to the PC manufacturers at huge discounts). I have only one system with Windows: a virtual machine with MS Office installed. I am seriously considering doing what Microsoft seems to want me to do: to change to the online Office 360 service, to manage my calendar directly in Google mail, and to retire my Windows VM. |
Posted on 6th June 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
Microsoft has been trying to force users to upgrade their operating systems to Windows 11 for some time, despite the fact that many Windows 10 users have PCs which do not meet Microsoft's hardware requirements. Some time ago, Microsoft even rolled out an update to force the upgrade on users, and when their hardware is not Windows 11 compatible, this update fails, and then repeats ad infinitum, causing Windows 10 to become unusable (10 minutes to log in, and another 10 minutes to open a file!). This report on Forbes describes the latest attempts to force users to upgrade to Windows 11. Users with PCs that are not capable of running Windows 11 will be warned that "the PC will not receive updates and is not eligible for upgrades", so no more security or functional updates for these users. Users whose PCs are Windows 11 compatible will be given the opportunity to schedule the upgrade, so no choice but to upgrade. Customer choice is, apparently, an alien concept to Microsoft. Another annoying issue with upgrading your operating system is the insistence that you have (and enter) a Microsoft email address. Many users do not want to have a user account linked to an MS email account, for good reason, and some made use of workarounds to get a local account for logging in to their machine. This report on PC World describes how MS have now blocked the simplest and most commonly used workaround. Another workaround exists (described briefly in the report), which still apparently still works, but PC World expects that this too will soon be blocked. Corporate customers gave up the fight long ago, and their staff logins are all done using an MS-linked email id. There are, however, large organisation (like to CIA and GCHQ) who have legitimate reasons to not have such MS-linked email/login ids, because to do so would be in direct contradiction to their security policies; I assume that such organisations have an exemption to Microsoft's rules, although they probably need a variant of the Windows 11 operating system to allow the exemption. Add to all this the trend in Microsoft pricing, which is for users to be required to rent software (operating systems and applications) via a yearly subscription rather than a simple licence purchase, which will increase the cost of having a PC. Given how difficult and unpleasant MS has made life for users, it came as no surprise to me to read recently that Microsoft doesn't actually want users to run their desktop operating system. They now make most of their money from Windows server and from applications, and their preferred model is to provide these apps online (Office 360 - access is via a browser, and it makes no difference what operating system you run your browser on); still free for private customers, but corporate customers must pay; expect to have to start to pay for Office 360 access, even as a private customer in the next year or two. The knowledge that MS isn't really interested in providing your desktop operating system explains all of the complexity and unpleasantness that they are causing their users. They are trying to drive their customers away (to Mac, Chromebook and Linux), because Windows is a lot of effort for them, and generates little, if any, profit. Windows users run the risk of being left high and dry by Microsoft. Time for you to jump ship. |
Posted on 5th June 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
A new study by University College London and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), reported on by The Guardian, shows that the world does not need any new licences for fossil fuel projects, because we already have enough to keep us supplied until 2050, at which point governments have committed to achieving "net zero emissions". The study suggests that governments stop issuing new licences for fossil fuel exploration and exploitation immediately, since we do not need any more oil, gas, coal, etc. That, however is not enough. Other studies have already shown that we don't dare to use all of the reserves that we already have, because of the climate impact that would cause. This means that governments need to cancel existing licences and projects, and shut down some current extraction projects. Realistically, governments will not take such drastic steps, because fossil fuel companies donate huge amounts to political parties and employ a vast army of lobbyists, giving them huge influence on government policy. Things are not looking good for our planet and the living things which inhabit it (wildlife, livestock and humans). |
Posted on 2nd June 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
I thought that some readers might find this article on "How To Geek" useful. It describes some simple ways to tell whether your webcam has been hacked, which probably means that someone has been spying on you. I thought this especially relevant at the moment, given that there currently seems to be a campaign to blackmail people with claims that someone has "recorded some videos of you jerking off to highly controversial adult videos." I am currently receiving several such emails per day with this claim, but they do not fool me. Not only can you use the article to check whether your webcam has been spying on you, but there are some very simple things you can do to prevent such intrusions:
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Posted on 26th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
The author (Dharna Noor) of this report on The Guardian seems genuinely surprised that the climate pledges made by fossil fuel companies are turning out the be nothing more than hot air. None of us should be shocked to hear that "Major oil companies have in recent years made splashy climate pledges to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and take on the climate crisis, but a new report suggests those plans do not stand up to scrutiny." The law requires that companies maximise profits (see here), so the idea that oil companies can be trusted to run their businesses in an environmentally responsible manner is patently laughable. Here are some relevant facts:
How long do we have to wait as big business destroys our planet and the future of our children, while governments pussy-foot around one of the biggest problems ever to be faced by humanity? |
Posted on 26th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on Yahoo Finance rather seems to miss the point. The report claims that "Germany has too many solar panels", and as a result, wholesale energy prices (what solar energy producers get from the energy distributors) during peak production hours have dropped by 87% in the last 10 days, and "raw market energy prices fall into negative territory during these hours." The idea that there are too many solar panels in Germany is, of course, nonsense. The nation is still generating electricity from natural gas, nuclear power plants and even coal powered stations. Consumer prices for electricity have fallen a little since the peaks reached at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but are still higher than pre-war levels. The problem is that, while private enterprise has taken tremendous strides in rolling out new solar power generation capacity, the government and the grid operators have not taken matching steps to provide increased energy storage capacity (battery and other storage technologies), so that cheap solar energy can be used while the sun is not shining. It has become clear that one of the reasons that German industry was so successful was the low energy prices paid by industry (due to the very favourable deals that Germany made with Russia), and now that is over, the country's economy is in the doldrums. Government investment in energy storage is exactly the kind of infrastructure spending that governments are meant to, and indeed must, undertake. The government seems to understand that they need to act decisively and quickly to boost the economy, and are taking action to fill the skill shortages and mitigate some of the taxation disincentives that are hampering economic growth, but don't seem to see the need for energy storage infrastructure. There is a chance that this is just a problem with lead times. Energy storage infrastructure takes a while to build and bring online (longer than the time to roll out solar energy generation); maybe the German government has a slew of such projects in progress already, and we just need to be patient. I suspect, however, that the reality is that any energy storage projects will be too few and too late. |
Posted on 20the May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This ridiculous article on Unilad shows that the lunatics have again escaped from the asylum. The piece describes the damage that a needle travelling at the speed of light would do if it hit the earth. The article claims that it is based on a theoretical study (actually, a computer simulation). There are several huge problems with their hypothesis, all of them resulting from the theory of special relativity:
The other huge problem with the article is the computer simulation: computer programs are inherently incapable of handling infinite numbers, so the creator of the video is not being honest with his readers. In contrast to the predictions of special relativity, the video in the Unilad article suggests several possible outcomes, ranging from minimal damage to the destruction of earth, but no further afield. Can we please stop with these ridiculous "studies"? They are just confusing people with bad science masquerading as real science. |
Posted on 20th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on The Telegraph reports that Russia has discovered enormous fossil fuel reserves in Antarctica, much of which is in the British Antarctic Territory. These reserves are about 10 times the size of the North Sea reserves. Many people are understandably concerned that there will now be attempts to extract these fuels, which would cause untold damage to the wildlife in and around Antarctica. My question is, why was anyone even looking for oil down there, given that:
The problem, of course, is that both Russia and Britain are desperate for income, and are unlikely to let environmental concerns and treaty commitments interfere with making a quick buck. |
Posted on 20th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This report on The London Economic is thoroughly scary. The headline reads "... Faecal bacteria found in water supply in EIGHT more UK regions". There have been 34 new separate incidents in 8 regions. This in addition to the 46 cases of cryptosporidium (a gastrointestinal parasitic illness) have been reported in Devon. All this in a nation that has always been proud to say that the tap water is safe to drink. After Brexit, the UK government leapt at the chance to revoke environmental legislation, and now allows laxer standards in air quality, food quality, and hygiene standards for tap water, rivers and beaches. I suspect that the decline in tap water described in the report is a direct result of this relaxation of standards and enforcement. Of course, the relaxation of these standards has saved money, but how much is the health of the populace worth? |
Posted on 16th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This article on The Financial Times (or this one on MK, to avoid the FT paywall) reports that the German government is planning to provide tax breaks for overtime, to encourage workers to work longer hours. If true, this would be a complete U-turn in employment policy. Current employment law heavily discourages overtime. Employees are limited to 48 hours per week, but may not be paid for the extra hours (these rules do not apply to freelance contractors); instead, staff must get compensatory leave (also known as time off in lieu), so that the hours worked do not exceed 8 hours per day averaged over a 6 month period. The situation is described in more detail in this article on I Am Expat, which points out (not very helpfully) the distinction between "Überstunden" and "Mehrarbeit", both of which are normally translated as overtime. Basically, unless your employment contract explicitly allows for paid overtime (Überstunden), you cannot be paid for it. Now the German government wants to encourage workers to work longer hours, with tax breaks so that paid overtime will not be so heavily taxed, as a means to revitalise the economy. Contrast this with the situation only 3½ months ago, when Germany began a trial, with 45 companies, of a 4 day working week (reported on here by HR Brew), with plans, if successful, to roll out the 4 day week more widely. The new policy has some issues:
The latest decision looks like a panic reaction by the government. I am sure that the unions will not be happy; the people on the experimental 4 day week will also be upset. Nevertheless, something needs to be done; the German economy is in the doldrums, and people's disposable income gets less and less, by the month. |
Posted on 12th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This report on Electrek details how Donald Trump, as part of his campaign for re-election, told oil executives that, in exchange for $1 billion of campaign contributions, he would end electric vehicle incentives. How is this not illegal? It illustrates that the main problem with American politics is the money. It is bad enough with all the lobbying and bribes in the form of election campaign funding, but now Trump, at least, is actively soliciting the bribes. It really is time to get the money out of politics, to save democracy. |
Posted on 12th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
Sheryl's new laptop, which I bought earlier this year, runs Windows 11. So far, I am not impressed with the operating system. Last night I noticed an odd bug. We had been watching a video, with the laptop connected to our TV, and the laptop charger plugged in. When we were finished, I unplugged the charger, and the screen (the laptop screen and the TV) both immediately went dark as the machine started to go into standby (suspend). As soon as I moved the mouse, the laptop woke up. I puzzled over this for a while, and realised what had happened. The laptop has the default setting that, after 15 minutes of no user action (mouse or keyboard) while running on battery, it goes into standby. Obviously, this 15 minute timer is running even when charging, so as soon as the charger is removed, it goes into standby. It really should start the timer only when the charger is removed. This is bad design, pure and simple; it shows that the requirements were not properly analysed, which would have highlighted this bug. This is exactly the kind of sloppy design that we have come to expect from Microsoft. |
Posted on 11th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This article on XDA is primarily about why product companies shouldn't use Windows in an NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, but a lot of the reasons they give are true for almost all uses of Windows. I was recently searching for an NAS in an online shop, and the first two devices that I found were indeed based on Windows, and I rejected them for that reason. The following is their list of reasons, with my comments. Windows isn't a lightweight OSIf you own a Windows PC, you are probably aware that the operating system takes up a lot of disc space, and keeps growing with every update. In the past I have had to use an external USB disc to make room for the applications and updates, which made the PC slow and inconvenient to use. Nowadays, disc storage has become dirt cheap, so this is less of a problem, but the larger the operating system, the slower it is to boot up, and the longer it takes to backup. Also, the larger the operating system, the more RAM you are likely to need to get it to work fast. Windows is expensiveEven Windows Home Edition is expensive. If you need the Pro version, it becomes exorbitant. Windows can be less secureI have written, in this blog, at length about Microsoft's poor security, and their generally cavalier attitude to security, so I don't feel I need to repeat myself on this topic. Windows isn't designed for serversDespite the existence of Windows Server operating systems, the fact remains that Windows is not good in this role. Acting as a server was an afterthought; bolted on functionality. This is why virtually every web-server on the Internet runs on Linux, which was designed from the ground up as a server. Windows doesn't have great remote managementIf you want to use Windows in any kind of server role, not just as an NAS server, you will be severely limited by its lack of support for remote management. Again, this functionality was an afterthought. Windows doesn't play well with more storage drivesAs the article points out, anything more complex than a simple file server (with a few disc drives) and a few users will cause Windows to struggle. Windows will do what it wants, not what you wantThis is a constant source of complaints about Windows, for example being forced to update, and then reboot when it is not convenient. Lots of services do not restart automatically after a reboot. NTFS isn't as good as other file-systemsWindows NTFS file system has a number of issues. Disc fragmentation (a problem which doesn't exist with Linux's EXT4 file system) is just one. As the article explains, Windows has no built-in support for RAID drives, so if you want RAID storage you will have to buy a dedicated external NAS. Linux has built-in support for RAID (all levels, not just RAID-1). |
Posted on 4th May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This report on Neowin details how Microsoft has given up trying to repair a bug that they introduced in one of their patches. Microsoft rolled out two security patches (KB5034441 for Windows 10. and KB5034440 for Windows 11) to fix the BitLocker Secure Boot bypass vulnerability. For some users this introduced an error ("0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE"). There is a manual workaround for this error, but it is beyond the ability of many users to implement the workaround. Initially, MS said they would issue a patch to repair the error caused by their faulty patch, but now they are saying that an automatic resolution for this issue will not be released, at least for Windows 10 (the situation is unclear for Windows 11) and the only resolution is by the manual workaround. This just shows what an incompetent and irresponsible company Microsoft is. It really is time for users to find an alternative to Windows: either Linux or Mac (which is just badge-engineered Linux). |
Posted on 1st May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This story on Techspot reports that Microsoft is up to its usual tricks: in this case installing software on its customers' without telling them. In March, Microsoft infuriated many Windows 11 users by automatically installing the Copilot AI based chatbot app on their PCs. It seems that enough people complained that Microsoft are now rolling out updates which remove this app. Installing this app, without warning or permission is seriously sharp practice; this kind of thing is why I am a Linux user (I never have to install any update that I don't want). AI is an inherently heavy user of computing resources: CPU capacity, RAM, disc space and Internet bandwidth. Why does Microsoft think it is OK to put this extra load on our PCs without permission? I have an idea. In future, whenever MS forces new functionality on you without permission, send them an invoice for the resources it uses. They won't pay, of course, but if enough people do it they may think again about their update policy. |
Posted on 1st May 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
Today I saw a very annoying article (I am not going to provide a link because it is just a piece of celebrity gossip that is purest nonsense) about the backlash against Barbara Streisand for something she posted about Melissa McCarthy's recent dramatic weight loss, in which she asked "Did you take Ozempic?". It seems that many people took offence to this simple comment. One of the best quotes that I have heard about the issue of offence is from Ricky Gervais, who said that you shouldn't say that something is offensive, but rather that you are offended. This case, however, goes beyond that obvious truth. People have no reason and no right to be offended about something that is not about them. Nevertheless, we see this phenomenon all the time in social media. It is perfectly in order to believe that some things are wrong, and even in some cases to campaign for change, but I, for one, do not want people trying to tell me that I am offended, especially when I am not. Melissa McCarthy is friends with Barbara Streisand, and has a significant social media present, so is perfectly capable of addressing any issue that she has with what Barbara Streisand posted, herself, but many people are busy being offended on her behalf. Why? The obvious reason is that the people complaining about the offence are virtue signalling. They are shouting "Look at me! Look at how politically correct I am!" Obviously, there are people who are not able to respond for themselves: people who are too young, too old, mute, too stupid or too illiterate to voice when they are offended. In those cases, other people perhaps have a right to complain about offence on their behalf, but generally it is inappropriate. Can we please put a stop to this offence by proxy? |
Posted on 23rd April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This report on Unilad is utterly terrifying, not least because an AI Robot gave us fair warning of what might (and probably will) happen, and humanity will ignore it anyway. The AI, Ameca, was asked when "AI will reach the level where it can design itself?" The initial answer was reassuring: "AI is a tool created and controlled by humans. It can optimize certain aspects of its operation, sure, but design itself from scratch? That's a whole different ball game. It requires creativity, innovation, understanding - qualities that are uniquely human. So, to answer your question, not anytime soon." Then Ameca volunteered "And frankly, be careful what you wish for. An AI that can design itself is one step away from an AI that doesn't need humans at all. Now there's a thought to keep you up at night." Now are you scared? Yous should be. |
Posted on 23rd April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Parenting). |
No surprises (only disappointment) in this article on Upworthy. The article is about a viral video on Tik Tok by Lisa Conselatore, an experienced teacher. Her point is that everyone is blaming the epidemic of misbehaviour and disrespect by children today on COVID, whereas it is actually and issue of culture and bad parenting. Parents want to be their kids' friends more than they want to be their parents. As a result, they do not discipline their offspring at home, so that when they go to school and then to work they do not have the necessary social skills and attitude to succeed. Lisa Conselatore talks, in her video, about kids believing that they are always the most important person in any room; whatever happened to the Victorian idea that children should be seen and not heard? Children brought up with this severely mistaken attitude have serious problems coping with being in the same room as another child who also thinks they are the most important person there. At work, in a meeting, this attitude results in chaos. It is, of course, possible to be your child's friend, but not at the expense of being their parent; this is similar to the balancing act of being someone's boss as well as their friend: it is possible, but requires care, so that the person (child or employee) is always clear when they are being spoken to by their parent/boss, and when by their friend. Some people cannot manage this balance; for those people the message is clear: being the parent or boss is more important than being the friend, so stick with that. This can also be seen as a problem of conflict avoidance by parents. We see, time and time again, how parents will avoid enforcing discipline (especially in public) so that they (and bystanders) don't have to suffer the tears and tantrums they know will result. As everyone should understand, every battle over discipline that is deferred is a battle doubled; giving way rewards the child for bad behaviour and reinforces that behaviour; winning that lost ground back is very hard. COVID is part of the mix, in that children spent more of their time at home instead of at school, summer camp, playing sport or hanging out with friends, thus exposing them to more bad parenting. We are now raising a generation of children who are ineducable and unemployable. This is doing them no favours in their adult life. The attitudes with which we are imbuing our kids are probably the main cause of the entitlement that is so rife in the workplace and so evident on the Internet. |
Posted on 19th April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Mobile Phones). |
I feel sorry for the victim described in this report on Moneywise. The resident of Florida went on a 3 week vacation to Switzerland, and came home to a mobile phone bill from T-Mobile for a staggering $143,000! This could not happen in Europe. In the past, before the law changed, I was caught out by an €1,800 roaming charge while on a ski trip to Austria, but then my mobile operator cut off my roaming service until I paid the bill. Since then, EU law has been changed so that, for EU customers, roaming mobile phone usage within the EU costs the same as in your home country. In addition, if I roam outside of the EU (e.g. when I visit family in New Zealand or the USA), my operator is legally is obliged ("obligated", to US readers) to cap charges at reasonable levels, and then cut off service, and to send warnings when charges come close to the cutoff limit. One of the major impacts of Brexit was that UK residents no longer get EU roaming at the same rate as when at home (but you did it to yourselves, so you get no sympathy from me). I don't understand why the USA doesn't have similar legal protections against roaming charge shock. Most roaming charges are anyway a scam; telephone companies pay for traffic at wholesale rates (if you want to get an idea of how low these are, compare the cost of a call over Skype with the same call on your mobile phone), so most of what you pay when roaming is pure profit. When EU roaming was introduced, all the mobile operators complained bitterly, but none were driven to bankruptcy, and all continued to make profits. Admittedly, the Florida man with the enormous bill could have been better prepared for his visit to Switzerland. When I visit New Zealand, I always get a local prepaid SIM card, so that I pay minimal roaming charges (just for incoming calls on my German number). Most recent mobile phones can hold two SIM cards (plus the option of eSIMs - no physical card involved), so there are no technical obstacles. |
Posted on 19th April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on Adventure must be very worrying for people living near the Thames. A representative of Thames Water, the company responsible for water supply and sewage processing in the Thames area in the UK, has stated that "We're not responsible for letting the public know whether they can swim in the rivers or not. That's up to them". We are not talking about people swimming in the river as it flows through central London (that stretch of the river hasn't been safe for swimming for decades) but about further upstream, where many people live in river-front houses and areas nearby. Due to discharge from sewage processing plants on the Thames, there are very high levels of harmful bacteria and viruses in the water, in some cases up to 4,000 times higher than safe levels. The company claims that the discharges are within the levels allowed by their storm permit for the treatment works. Leaving aside the disgrace represented by the storm permits themselves, whereby the government has made dangerous levels of pollution legal for Water Companies, in what world do they not have any responsibility to notify the public about health hazards? I contrast this situation in the UK with what we have here in Germany, where local governments (who are often also responsible for water supply and sewage processing) regularly issue warnings when swimming in lakes and rivers is considered unsafe. The only good thing I can say about this is that, at least, it is not as bad as the scandal of lead pollution in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan. |
Posted on 18th April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
I like the BBC News. I find it fairly politically neutral, informative and, mostly, well written. I have, however, not been using the BBC News App on my mobile phone lately, because it hasn't worked for many weeks. There was a resent update to a new version of the App, with a new look and feel. After the update, I had high hopes. It worked for a few days, and then stopped working. Yesterday it worked, but today it again doesn't. The problem is clearly bad coding. The error message states that my phone has no Internet connection, even though it obviously does, and I am able to read news from other sources. I believe that, when the BBC News server used by the App is overloaded, the App decides that the problem is with the Internet connection on the client device, when it is actually a server issue. There is no problem with the BBC News web-site, so I can read the news in a browser, but this is not as convenient on a mobile phone. The BBC has a long and varied history of problems with their news App, including general problems with playing videos, and with advertisements in videos. Other organisations are able to make working Apps for mobile phones; why can't the BBC do so as well? If they need help with their App, they should get in touch. |
Posted on 10th April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread. |
I have rather mixed feelings about this article on Euronews. They report that "75% of employers in 21 European countries could not find workers equipped with the right skills in 2023". That figure rose to 82% in Germany and Greece. At first glance this seems to be an education problem, but I am not so sure. As a long-term resident in Germany I know from personal experience that the required qualifications for many jobs are simply too stringent; the same is true in many European countries. The concept of acquiring skills through work experience is almost non-existent, in Germany and most of Western Europe. As a freelance contractor, I was luckily able to sidestep many of the requirements that apply to permanent employees, but to be employed in my industry one must have the right qualifications to work as a manager, developer or tester. My partner Sheryl has also been caught out by this: she is still taking a leadership/management course that is specific to her industry, because it is a mandatory requirement imposed by the German government, even though she is probably better qualified to teach the course than the actual instructors. Even people with qualifications usually have issues with the requirements, if they qualified in another country. You may have the appropriate certificates, but the government will decide whether they qualify you for a job, on a case by case basis. The only country that I know of that is worse in this respect is New Zealand, which typically requires immigrants to re-qualify in their profession before they can work. This applies to managers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, accountants etc. My father was an experienced manager in TV and radio repair in the UK, but when he moved to New Zealand he was paid as a technician until he re-qualified (6 months to take all the local exams - at least he didn't have to actually sit in a classroom or work under supervision to get all his NZ technical tickets). There are other issues at play here. People now entering the workforce don't seem to be as committed to education: they may drop out, change subjects mid-course, or simply fail the exams. It may be a case of "the world owes me a living" syndrome. Nevertheless, some of the shortage of skilled labour could be eased by making the qualification requirements a little less tough, and recognising certificates issued in other countries. Time for a bit of common sense, I feel, although common sense seems to be in woefully short supply nowadays. |
Posted on 10th April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This report on MSNBC describes a new analysis which shows that "the large increase in [US] immigration in recent years is a major part of why the U.S. has recently experienced extraordinary economic growth compared to peer nations". Immigration is a contentious topic around the world, especially in the USA. Many citizens in most countries do not want immigration, even when those citizens are themselves immigrants. At the same time there are critical skill shortages in most developed nations, and those same nations have a demographic problem (too many retirees in their populations, making it hard to fund pensions). This latest analysis shows that "absent immigration, the US labor supply would have shrunk by 1.2 million since 2019. Instead, it expanded by 2 million". Immigration accounted for 20% of US economic growth since 2020, causing the country to outperform all other G7 economies. I really think it is time for politicians around the world to have the courage to address the racism and fear amongst their voters, and start persuading people to accept immigration. |
Posted on 3rd April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
After a recent update on my Samsung mobile phone (cell-phone, to some of you, Handy to others) I am furious with Samsung. I was notified of an update to "One UI", which I scheduled for last night. When I woke up this morning, wanting to check the news and notifications, I was not able to do so until I had typed in my SIM PIN-code; then I was presented with the One UI widget, asking me to sign in to my Samsung account. I do not have a Samsung account (I was able to skip this step after previous updates), and did not want one. My current phone has only software control buttons, unlike all my previous models which had a hardware home button, and the One UI widget has no option to exit or to skip the sign-up. After trying for several minutes, I gave in and selected the option to sign in with Google. In most cases this works fine, but not with Samsung. I was told to enter the verification code that Samsung had sent to my Google-Mail account. However, since there is no way to exit or even minimise the One UI widget, I couldn't get to my email app. So I went to my laptop to read my email and find the code and enter it, thinking that would be it. I was wrong: that was not it. The One UI widget then asked for my password. Since I had not been asked to enter a password for my Samsung account, I assumed that they wanted my Google password; wrong again! They wanted my, at that point not set, Samsung password. The widget provided the URL for resetting the password, but not as a clickable link. I made another trip to my laptop to reset my password, since I was still trapped in the One UI widget on my phone. That was finally it, after 30 minutes of fighting with the One UI widget and two trips to my laptop to access my email and then a browser, I was finally actually able to use my mobile phone. I have to wonder how someone who is not a software professional would have dealt with this. Also, how would I have deal with it if I had not had another device to use, for example if I was away from home without my laptop? Also, what if I needed to make an emergency call? So, here are some pointers for Samsung (and any subcontractors they may have used):
|
Posted on 2nd April 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (ISPs). |
I currently have two Internet Service Providers (ISPs): M-Net and PŸUR (previously known as Cablesurf). I have been a customer of M-Net for about two years, and am generally pleased with their service. I have been a customer of PŸUR much longer (about 17 years). Whilst they are cheap (the cheapest ISP around), I have always had trouble with their service: ![]()
It is not unusual for ISPs to change their Terms and Conditions, but, in Germany at least, all service providers (not just ISPs) are legally obliged (obligated, to US readers) to inform their customers. Changing Ts&Cs without due notice is a breach of contract. If I had time, I would sue; I will definitely cancel the contract with PŸUR, since I can operate my web-sites effectively with just my M-Net service. |
Posted on 31st March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This piece on Associated Press (AP) News reports that the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is toughening up emission standards for "Heavy-Duty Vehicles". The standards for this class of vehicles hasn't been toughened since 2016 (8 years ago!). It is worth noting that the EPA's original proposals were watered down, for certain in response to industry lobbying. The USA is heavily dependent on trucks for shipping goods across the nation; hardly anything is transported by train. This was brutally brought home to me in the last year, when I saw the outrageous number of trucks on the road on our trip from Chicago to Ohio for the funeral of Sheryl's father. Other countries make much better use of their rail networks for shipping goods. This is caused by the relatively lower cost of road transport, caused in turn by the ridiculously low price of fuel. My real question is, why has it taken the EPA so long to act? I understand that, during the Trump presidency, the EPA were not allowed to toughen environmental regulations, but there have since been nearly 4 years of the Biden presidency, during which the EPA could have taken steps. Does the EPA not understand that our planet has an environmental crisis? Swift and drastic action is needed. There is also a sound economic justification for tougher emissions standards ("over the next three decades ... $13 billion in net benefits in the form of fewer hospital visits, lost work days and deaths"). Stop messing around and do your job! |
Posted on 31st March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
This BBC article reports that "Harvard University has removed the binding of human skin from a 19th Century book kept in its library." They claim that they did this "due to the ethically fraught nature of the book's origins and subsequent history." WTF! The University stated that "the human remains will be given a respectful disposition that seeks to restore dignity to the woman whose skin was used". Museums and Libraries have a long history of not treating human remains with this overblown degree of dignity: many museums have exhibits of human remains (the desiccated remains of Ötzi, Egyptian mummies, etc. - The British Museum, for example, holds approximately 6,000 human remains), so why does this human skin warrant special treatment? It is not as if the use of human skin had no ethical point in this case. The doctor who provided the skin to the book's author, a friend, wrote "A book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering." So what exactly is the "ethically fraught nature of the book's origins and subsequent history"? It sounds more like the University being afraid of a backlash from the woke brigade, in case they deciding to be offended on behalf of a the woman whose skin was used. Basically, this is a case of re-fabricating historical evidence. I don't want my history to be rewritten to bring it inline with modern sensibilities. How will we ever learn from history if it is constantly being sanitised? |
Posted on 29th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
The BBC reports that Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, has received a prison sentence of 25 years for his part in the fraud perpetrated by his company. Maybe now we can start calling him by his correct name: Scam Bank-Man Fraud. I admit to not being surprised when the news of the fraud hit. I have always considered all cryptocurrency to be a scam, and that it was only a matter of time before the shit hit the fan. |
Posted on 29the March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
In this report on Electrec I am not sure whether the journalist or the marketing department of ION Storage Systems is responsible for this blatant stupidity. The article claims that the company has developed an "anodeless, compressionless solid-state battery". This claim is arrant nonsense. This is not a matter of interpretation or design; it is a matter of definition. The anode of a battery is the negative terminal, from which electrons flow into any external circuit attached to the battery, as clearly described (and illustrated with a diagram) here on Wikipedia. A battery cell must have both an anode and a cathode in order to work. Indeed, the report describes the anode of the new battery design as "a unique 3-D ceramic structure", instead of the usual solid graphite, so clearly it is not anodeless. Are these people really so stupid, or do they think that we are? |
Posted on 22nd March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Service). |
This incident was reported to me by someone who wishes to remain anonymous, although I have personally seen the evidence and can therefore confirm that it is genuine. The victim of this bad service had ordered some products online. They eventually received a notice in their post box that DHL (the parcels division of Deutsche Post - the German Post office) had attempted to deliver the parcel on the 13) of March, but had been unable to deliver it because no-one was home, and that the parcel could be collected at the local post office from 14:00 (2 pm) the next day. I find this odd because, on occasion, DHL will simply leave parcels in the hallway, even in the case of high value items like a laptop that I ordered, which then went missing. The recipient of the parcel did not receive any mail at all for about a week, and when they did, it contained the notification about the parcel available for collection at the post office. When they went to collect their parcel, they were informed that it had already been sent back (the post office only holds parcels for a few days before returning them to the sender). How can someone know to collect their parcel unless they are informed in time to do so? The totally bizarre aspect of this incident is that the parcel in question was actually delivered (left in front of the recipient's apartment door, rather than being really delivered) the day after the first attempt to deliver (there is no was to tell what a parcel contains or who it is from until one can see it). It really seems that DHL and Deutsche Post don't know their arse from their elbow. What makes this sorry tale especially unacceptable is the special legal status of Deutsche Post. Proof of posting is considered legal proof of delivery, which implies a highly reliable and secure service, whereas my experience, that of the victim of this incident, and many people living in Germany is to the contrary. |
Posted on 16th May 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Service). |
This report on The Independent is downright bizarre. Tipping practices in the USA are very different to those in the rest of the world. In the USA a tip of less than 15% is considered to be mean, and 25% is not unusual; whenever Sheryl returns to Munich from a visit to Chicago she has to relearn to tip the 10% that more is more usual in Europe. In America tips are expected for virtually all transactions, whereas in Europe people would not normally tip in a café or the like. The main reason for the difference is that waiters, baristas and bar staff are typically not paid a proper wage in America, and need the tips to survive, whereas in Europe they get a livable wage. Americans are therefore used to tipping for everything. Now, apparently since the pandemic, customers in the USA are being prompted to leave a tip at supermarkets when using the self-checkout, and customers are quite rightly refusing; they are questioning to whom the tip is going, and for what service they are tipping. On restaurant bills (checks to you Yanks) tips are usually labelled as "service charges", and it is clear across the board that a tip is for service, so why do supermarkets feel it appropriate to receive a tip when no service was provided? Some people go so far as to suggest that the goods should be charged at a lower price at self-checkouts, since the customer is working for the supermarket during check-out. I don't mind leaving a tip. I always give tips to taxi drivers, I always leave a tip when buying a doner kebab (even though there is no table service) and I always tip at restaurants, but I never feel obliged (obligated, in American) to tip. I do, however, have a firm rule: if I am leaving no tip, or a low tip, I must explain why (slow service, badly prepared food, or whatever), otherwise how can they improve? If we are regular customers of an establishment, we often tip over the odds, which ensures that we can always get a table, get good service and quality food (some of our neighbours do not understand why we often get a free second bottle of wine at our local sushi restaurant; it is because we tip them well). Many years ago I used to work in the Holborn area of London, and was often short of time to get my train home from Charing Cross (too little time to take the tube train), so I would often get a taxi. Taxi drivers are notorious for their tricks to boost the fare, by taking a longer route, so I developed the trick of getting out enough money to cover the fare plus a fair tip, and shaking it noisily (only works if at least some of it is change) during the drive. This made it clear that any unnecessary diversions or delays were going to be at the expense of their tip. This technique worked amazingly well. |
Posted on 21th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
If anyone needs proof that Microsoft doesn't take their customers' security seriously, this report on Bleeping Computer is it. For those who don't know, RSA security certificates are used to secure connections for services like HTTPS (secure web-site access), FTP (the usual method to upload files to remote web-servers), SSH (secure shell connections) and RDP remote desktop connection). The longer the key, the more secure it is (although there is a data processing overhead with longer keys), and 2048 bit keys have been common for a very long time, and the recommended minimum since 2013 (the Bleeping Computer report states that 1024 bit keys were disallowed by Internet standards and regulatory bodies in 2013. 2048 bit keys have been recommended since 2002. I have, on occasion, even generated 4096 bit RSA-based SSL certificates for web-sites. Microsoft, however, is only now deprecating 1024 bit keys. Note that "deprecating" means that they are not encouraging the use of 1024 bit keys, rather than disabling them; you will get a warning, but will be allowed to create a connection to a system that uses one. One of the systems that I have has a Windows 7 operating system (on a virtual machine). Windows 7 uses 1024 bit keys. Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 in January 2020, but in the 7 years since 1024 bit keys were disallowed (and the 12 years since 2048 bit keys have been recommended) no updates to introduce 2048 bit keys were issued by Microsoft. Many popular tools (Firezilla, the most popular FTP client, all browsers and SSH) have required a minimum key length of 2048 bits since the end of 2013. I use Remmina (standard in Ubuntu and many other Linux variants) for my RDP sessions and it will not connect to a server unless it has at least 2048 bits; there is no option to ignore, and no way to relax the security settings. Windows, however, allows you to connect an RDP session to a remote system that has only a 1024 bit key (you will at least get a warning). To spell it out clearly, your Microsoft systems are inherently insecure and prone to hacking, and the company doesn't care. Even if they did care, experience has shown that they are not good at system security, or indeed in issuing updates that work. I know that many people still operate Windows 7 (the last Windows version that doesn't force system updates without the user's approval; there are several other legitimate reasons to use such an old operating system). If you are one of these, but would like to upgrade your RDP security, it is possible (complicated, but possible), here is what you can do:
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Posted on 13th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
As if there had not been enough air safety incidents lately, now the BBC reports on a case from Indonesia in which both the pilot and copilot fell asleep for 28 minutes during the flight. The pilot told his copilot that he needed to rest, and took a nap; this is not meant to happen on short-haul flights. The copilot then also fell asleep. Air-traffic control were unable to raise anyone on the flight-deck during the naps. "Our lives in their hands!" |
Posted on 9th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
The BBC reports that a United Airlines flight (a Boeing 777 flying from San Francisco to Tokyo) lost a tyre (tire) seconds after takeoff. That is not correct. One can clearly see from the video of where it landed that it is a wheel (with the tyre still attached), not just a tyre. This is an important distinction, because losing a tyre is not uncommon, tyres are lost because they break up into smaller pieces and the damage when the tyre debris hits the ground is less severe, whereas a wheel plus tyre is one piece, is heavier and the damage when a tyre hits the ground is significant (as the video shows). Losing a wheel is much less common, and is usually a symptom of poor maintenance or faulty parts, and is a major safety concern. |
Posted on 7th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Science Alert reports on a small study conducted in Italy which showed microplastics in "more than 50% of plaques from clogged arteries". The article also reminds us that microplastics are now found in human placentas. "In the study, patients with microplastics in their excised plaques were twice as likely to have experienced a stroke, non-fatal heart attack or died from any cause after 34 months than people who had no detectable microplastics in the plaques that surgeons had removed." We desperately need to find a way to manage without plastics. That, however, will not be enough - we need to start getting plastics out of our environment. If we don't, we are likely to start seeing spikes in health problems, including death, due to plastic getting into our bodies. |
Posted on 6th March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Travel). |
This report on Gizmodo will come as no surprise to many people. It is not necessary to put your mobile phone into airplane mode during flights. As someone who worked in the avionics industry, where engineers expend enormous efforts to design equipment that is immune from the effects of interference from mobile phones and from other avionic systems, I have always known that it was a lie that phones and other mobile devices could interfere with the navigation and flight control systems of aircraft. That is why you have never heard an announcement from the cockpit demanding that passengers turn off the devices because interference. Requests to turn off mobile devices or put them inti airplane mode come from the cabin staff, sometimes backed up with the statement that this is the law in whatever country (which certainly used to be true in some countries, but nowadays is generally untrue). The report does explain why the cabin staff still make this request, even though it is unnecessary: to keep peace and quiet in the cabin during flights and to stop fights breaking out due to those people who insist on loudly using their phones all the time. Whilst I do recommend that you comply with the request to turn off or switch to airplane mode, you do not need to worry that the plane will crash or get lost if you forget. Airplane mode uses less power, so your battery will last longer in that mode, and avoid all the shouting from bystanders and cabin staff. |
Posted on 5the March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
Denyse O'Leary, the author of this report on MindMatters, really shows her ignorance of basic science. The headline, and the content of the article both state that the "Human Brain [is] More Complex Than the Models Show". Well duh! That is the nature of models; they are abstractions (simplifications). Since all science is about models (there are no such things as laws of science, only models), a basic understanding of models, their nature and their inherent limitations is a necessary qualification for any science journalist; Ms. O'Leary clearly lacks that understanding, and therefore that qualification. Perhaps it is time for her to seek a new career. |
Posted on 1st March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Home Networking). |
I recently retired one of my WiFi routers, an ASUS RT-N12EC1 that I have owned for a few years, because it was messing up my home network. There were 3 WiFi networks (now only 2) in my home: 2 controlled by my 2 Internet modems, and the Asus router configured as an access point (AP) for one of the Internet modems, because otherwise the signal was not strong enough in every room. Most of our rooms have an Ethernet cable port, but there is only one cabled network with the two logical networks running over it. The reason for retiring the Asus was that I discovered that it was sometimes claiming an IP address that was assigned (statically) to one of m servers. This is why I had problems getting my new server to work properly. At some point in the distant past, I had set the Asus router to use IP address a.b.c.3, which is on the logical network controlled by Internet modem #1. Once the Asus was configured as an AP it had no discernible IP address of its own, so I didn't worry about its IP address. The Asus never worked as an AP on network #2 (simply too old to support the latest AP protocol) and was never assigned an address on that network. Eventually I found out that the Asus router would periodically attempt to connect to network #2 (a.b.d.0), and while trying would grab the address a.b.d.3, an address that had never been assigned to it. These failed attempts would last anywhere from a few seconds to more than 5 minutes. Obviously, my new server was unreachable while the Asus router was using that wrong address. Now that Sheryl and I both have new mobile phones, there is strong enough WiFi signal throughout the apartment without the Asus working as an AP, so it is now stowed in a drawer. This kind of undocumented behaviour is why one must always be careful buying cheap IT products. We have one other Asus device at home: a laptop that Sheryl bought which has always been a source of problems. I most certainly do not recommend Asus products. |
Posted on 1st March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
Techspot reports on the latest updates to Windows 11 , which has a number of bugs affecting some users. Problems include the sudden disappearance of the Taskbar, File Explorer crashes and degraded performance. In addition, some users experienced a failure to install (due to a failure to fully download the update). Whilst almost all updates cause some loss of performance, it is unclear by how much the performance was reduced; past a certain point such downgrades are clearly intolerable. Unlike free operating systems like Linux (Ubuntu and most other variants of Linux) and the tools that run on it, we pay for our Microsoft products, either directly or included in the price of our computers. I expect better quality in what is sometimes very expensive software. I have 6 machines running Ubuntu, and only 2 running Windows, but most of my problems are with Microsoft products. One thing that I strongly object to is paying Microsoft, when I buy a new computer with Windows pre-installed, when I then replace Windows with Linux. How long will people tolerate such low quality software? Users are dependent on their computers for work, entertainment (games, music and videos), for online banking and online shopping, and anything which impacts these is a major inconvenience. Given that there are good alternatives to Microsoft products, I do not understand why more people aren't voting with their feet. It is maybe time that users banded together to sue Microsoft for breach of contract. Readers might also want to consider switching to Linux. |
Posted on 1st March 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
This report on The New Scientist seems, at first glance, to be total nonsense, but if one actually reads it, it makes sense. Microplastics and nanoplastics are in everything: in our water, food, in our bodies and the bodies of animals and plants; even in our placentas and our new-born children. This pollution is carcinogenic, and seems to be implicated in reductions in sperm counts and fertility. Boiling tap water removes about 80% of the tiny plastic particles. The obvious question is "what happens to the microplastics when one boils the water?" The answer is that it gets bound into the limescale that builds up in our kettles. If you have very hard tap water, as we do in Munich, more plastic is removed; if you have completely soft water, then presumably none is removed. Of course, boiled water tastes disgusting. Some brands of bottled water taste better, but bottled water also contains microplastics, so that is no solution. I haven't seen any data on the effectiveness of water filters, but it seems logical that filtering would also remove some of the microplastics. We really need a comprehensive plan to phase out plastics, or replace them with biodegradable plastics, before we make ourselves extinct. |
Posted on 29th February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (National Differences). |
I was somewhat unsure which thread I should post this in: maybe Bad Journalism, or Stupid People (Tucker Carlson definitely qualifies for both those threads). In the end, I decided to start a new thread: National Differences. This post is about Tucker Carlson's "Interview with Vladimir Putin and trip to Russia", which begins in this Daily Show clip from 2 minutes and 26 seconds. My reason for writing begins at 7 minutes and 43 seconds. In it Tucker visits a Russian grocery store. He is amazed and impressed by the system of putting a 10 rouble coin into a slot to get to use a shopping cart/trolley, and getting it back when you return the cart. He is also impressed by the wheels of the cart, which lock into the surface of the sloping escalator so that the trolley stays in place without being held. Having been to the USA several times, including 3 times in the last 18 months, I can confirm that I have never seen either of these pieces of technology there, so American viewers are probably as amazed and impressed as Tucker is. In Europe (the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Austria and Spain, in my personal experience) such trivial technology is completely standard, and has been for over 25 years. The same is true in New Zealand and Australia. ![]() Other differences between the USA and elsewhere spring to mind. In some areas of America, many homes are damaged by tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and wildfires, made much worse by the fact that so many homes are built of wood. In Europe we build our homes of brick, stone or concrete. As a result houses last a long time; the house where I live is over 100 years old, and is still sound despite having been damaged (since repaired) by allied bombing in World War II; in America, a 100 year old wooden house is typically only fit for demolition. American homes typically have only single glazed windows, leading to higher heating and air-conditioning costs and more noise from the street, whereas in most of Europe double glazing is required by law (in Sweden, Norway and Finland triple gazing is required). New houses in Germany are typically built with cavity-insulated bricks (see photo to the right). Then there are the cars and pickup trucks. In the USA "The maximum speed limit on rural interstate highways is 70mph ... On four-lane divided highways, the limit is 65mph, and on all other highways it's 55mph." [See here.] On much of Germany's autobahn network there is no speed limit, and I have often driven at 125mph where conditions allow. In the USA, however, average engine capacity is around 3 litres (liters for American readers), and 5 litre or more engines are not unusual, whereas the average German car has a 1800 cc engines; the only reason why the average engine size has fallen in recent years is because of the increase in sales of imported cars from Europe, Japan, etc. Why do Americans need 5 litre engines to drive at such low speeds; is there something wrong with the engines in American cars? These and many other differences suggest that the USA is behind the rest of the world in a whole range of technology. I find this at odds with the fact that America is a world leader in software development, semiconductor fabrication technology and armaments (specifically, smart weapons) design. It seems that the advanced technology that the country develops does not trickle down to every day life, and that people are willing to make do with outdated capabilities and performance. It is time for the man in the (American) street to insist on better products; they are being shortchanged. |
Posted on 20th February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
The roll-out of AI into all aspects of our lives is in full swing, but there has been a whole host of very worrying news as a result. Below are some examples. The BBC reports that big-tech companies (including Amazon, Google and Microsoft) "have agreed to tackle what they are calling deceptive artificial intelligence (AI) in elections". Whilst this might seem to be good news, I suspect that their efforts will be unsuccessful, and the fact that they have decided to do something shows just how dangerous AI disinformation is. It is bad enough when humans engage in disinformation, but AI provides the tools to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of such propaganda. With this increase in the quantity of disinformation, it will be nearly impossible for the current fact checking processes to keep up. I foresee a world where bad actors generate disinformation using AI, and the gate-keepers use AI to warn us that such content is untrustworthy. Social media is already full of junk, and AI is going to make that mush worse. According to Futurism, Amazon have been testing a new Large Language Model (LLM - AI), that is showing "emergent abilities". The AI system ("Big Adaptive Streamable TTS with Emergent abilities" or BASE TTS) showed the ability to understand (and therefore potentially to use) aspects of language that it was not trained on. This is extremely scary. Fortune tells us that Microsoft is reporting that Iran, North Korea, Russia and China are starting to use generative AI (Microsoft's own AI tools) to launch cyberattacks. One issue with that is the potential of a vastly increased volume of such attacks; another is that AI may devise attacks that are cleverer and more effective than man-made attacks, thinking of attack techniques that humans have not come up with. Given our dependence on IT for everything (news, banking, utility company operations, government services, telecoms, etc.), the impact could be enormous. Although Microsoft says that they had detected and disrupted some such cyberattacks, what about the ones they missed (or didn't care enough about) and what about other company's AI tools? Lifehacker reports on the announcement by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, of Sora, an AI that can generate amazingly realistic videos from text input. The article contains some examples. Whilst some such fake videos will be harmless and entertaining the potential for disinformation is enormous. People are generally likely to accept videos as genuine, and indeed courts often accept video evidence as factual (audio recordings are not, unless there is independent evidence of their veracity), creating risks of miscarriages of justice. Although the article states that it is (currently) possible with careful examination of the videos to detect that they are fake, this (Sora) is only the the first version of such text to video AI, and with later versions it will become progressively more difficult to detect AI generated fakes. This report on Ars Technica is a story that has appeared in many places. Air Canada's chatbot gave incorrect advice to a passenger about the airline's bereavement discount policy. When the passenger followed that advice by claiming the bereavement discount refund after booking, his claim was refused, so he sued Air Canada. He won his lawsuit, but the defence used by Air Canada in court is what I find worrying. They claimed that the chatbot was an independent entity, and that they were not responsible for the advice that it gave. Legally, the chatbot is an agent of the company, just as a human sales or customer support representative is, and any advice given has legal standing. What worries me, however, is that big companies who use chatbots and other AI will keep contesting this, and may eventually win, establishing a precedent that undermines customers' rights. Forbes reports on a warning from Google about AI. AI is finding its was into the Apps on our smartphones (whether Android or iPhone), and it appears that we all have a blind spot regarding our Apps: we think that our interaction with them is private; it is not! The potential for leaking confidential information (your bank account information, the name of your lover, income that you may not have declared to the tax man, your political affiliations, etc.) is enormous. We all need to learn new habits if we want to keep our secrets secret. With the roll-out of AI, many people were worried that they might lose their jobs to AI. This article on Tech.co lists some of the companies that have already replaced workers with AI (MSN, Google, Dukaan, Ikea, BlueFocus, Salesforce and Duolingo), and some that are planning to do so soon (IBM and BT). We were right to be worried! As a counterpoint, Futurism reports on a study by MIT which shows that replacing workers with AI is more expensive, although the costs of AI are likely to fall in the future and companies are likely to plow ahead anyway. Vice.com reports on very worrying results from international conflict simulations. Military organisations around the world are evaluating the use of AI to support decision making. The results show that AI is very prone to sudden escalation: "In several instances, the AIs deployed nuclear weapons without warning". It sounds like an old movie which many of us will have seen. |
Posted on 17th February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Travel). |
One of our Christmas presents from Sheryl's sister Becky was a Groupon voucher for an airport lounge at Chicago O'Hare airport. We thought it was a nice idea, and were looking forward to a pleasant experience at the airport (O'Hare is otherwise a very unpleasant place to fly through, with very limited options for drinks, food and comfortable seats). The voucher was a "Priority Pass" voucher, which entitles the holder (and a guest, I believe) to use the Swissport Lounge. Unfortunately, the Swissport Lounge is in terminal 5, and both United and Lufthansa (our only direct flight options from Chicago to Munich) fly from terminal 1. Once you have passed through security, you are stuck in the terminal from which you are flying. So, just in case you are tempted by the Priority Pass, first check which terminal you are departing from (terminal 5 serves British Airways, Delta, LOT, SAS and Swiss). |
Posted on 16th February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
According to this report on the BBC, France has decided to take away the right of people born in Mayotte, a département de France located in the Indian Ocean, to have full French citizenship. France has 5 overseas départements (French Guiana in South America, Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, Martinique in the Caribbean, Réunion in the Indian Ocean and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean), as listed on this Wikipedia page. A département is equivalent to a county, part of the nation of France, and people born there have always enjoyed the right to full French citizenship. Now, however, due to massive immigration, the French government has decided to strip away that right in Mayotte. It is probably only a matter of time until the same thing happens in the other 4 départements. This is almost identical to what happened to the people of Hong Kong, where the British government took away the long-standing right of people born there to have full British citizenship before handing Hong Kong back to China. This is part of the same trend that we see in other European countries, in the USA, in Canada and elsewhere, where immigration is being made progressively more difficult as governments pander to the racism of the voting public, despite the desperate need for immigrants in all these nations to boost their economies and solve the demographic problem of funding pensions. What happened to the idea of governments taking the moral high-ground? |
Posted on 16the February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
I am also getting thoroughly pissed off with the articles like this one on the Brighter Side News, claiming breakthroughs in solar cell technology that makes them 1000 times more efficient. I have seen dozens of such claims over the last year or more. As explained by the University of Michigan, current photovoltaic cells have typical efficiencies in the range of 17% to 20%. Making them 1000 times more efficient would make them up to 200% more efficient, producing 200 times more energy than what is input in the form of sunlight. This is clearly nonsense: no machine can output more energy than is input. Maybe the Brighter Side News needs to fire some of their journalists and editors, to stop the lies. |
Posted on 29th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (politics). |
This report, and this report, on the BBC, are about the new rules for holders of a UK BNO visa, entitling them to live in the UK. The new rules take effect from the 31st of January 2021. The UK government are very proud of themselves for doing this. It is only 33 years too late! Hong Kong was returned to the control of China (when Britain's lease expired) in July 1997. Hong Kong residents used to be entitled to a full British passport, but the UK government were worried about a huge influx of immigrants, and removed that right well before the handover, and introduced the BNO (British National Overseas) passport (which could only be applied for before the handover of Hong Kong), which gave holders no right of residence in the UK. At the time, I was disgusted with the the UK government: one of the reasons that I cut most of my ties with Britain when I left the country in 1990. Finally they have redressed the matter, at least partly. As always, too little, too late. I am sure that the reason for the change has nothing to do with human rights or the protection of freedoms; if they feel those are valid reasons, they would have not created the injustice in the first place in 1997. |
Posted on 16th November 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
Well, no surprises in this article on The Guardian. It reports that "The government is to loosen EU-derived laws on chemicals in a move experts say will increase the likelihood of toxic substances entering the environment." This exactly what I and a host of others predicted. With this latest development, as a result of the increased freedom given by Brexit of the UK to make their own environmental legislation, UK residents now have to contend with:
There will be more erosion of UK standards in the near future, I am sure. |
Posted on 10the February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
I am fed up with seeing articles about "the 600 mile battery". There is no such thing. The latest offender is Yahoo Tech News, but there have been dozens of such reports, including this story on Forbes, a well respected news source. For one thing, the amount of range an electric vehicle (EV) has depends on how many batteries are in the vehicle. It is possible to give a Tesla 600 miles of range simply by adding more batteries, but then there would be no room for luggage and passengers. For another thing, it is likely that most EV manufacturers will use the new generation of higher capacity batteries to reduce cost and weight (thus increasing performance), rather than keeping the same battery weight/size and increasing range. If these news sources can't understand these basic facts of physics, then maybe they should refrain from writing about EVs and their batteries. |
Posted on 10th February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Business Ethics). |
The BBC reports that Barclays bank has announced that it will no longer provide direct funding for new oil and gas projects. This is too little, too late! Barclays has a long record of questionable business ethics. They were the last of the UK High Street banks to pull out of South Africa during the apartheid era, and has huge existing investments in fossil fuels. This report on Ethical Consumer has a more detailed explanation of the ethical issues with Barclays, which includes:
Barclays' latest announcement states that it "will restrict lending to energy businesses that plan to expand their fossil fuel production." This means that they will continue to financially support the fossil fuel industry. I case the management at Barclays didn't notice, the latest research shows that we have already passed the 1.5°C limit that world leaders set for themselves in the hope of saving our planet. It is time for companies that are part of the problem to take bolder steps, and become part of the solution. |
Posted on 10the February 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
The BBC does it again! This story reports on a Spanish matador who the BBC describe him as "LBGT" (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) but he is certainly not all four of those thing. The matador describes himself as pansexual, so bisexual. Being male (from birth, and still today) he certainly cannot be lesbian and is not transsexual. So, not LGBT, just B. A group of people can be described as LGBT, but a single person, by definition, cannot. Get it right, BBC! It's not that hard. |
Posted on 19th January 2024 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
After two recent air travel incidents, many people will be worrying just how safe it is to travel by aircraft. The first occurred on the 5th of January, a door blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California, as reported by the BBC. The blow-out occurred at 16,000 ft (4,876m, causing oxygen masks to be deployed and the jet to make an emergency descent , after which it returned to Portland. Aircraft cabins are pressurised to the equivalent of 10,000 ft, so the sudden depressurisation would certainly have been noticed by the passengers. Most people, however, can tolerate air pressure at 20,000 (I have done so, while working, including moving heavy equipment). One commentator wrote that many passengers would probably have died if the blow-out had occurred at 30,000 ft (normal operating altitude for jets), although I suspect that passing out would be a much more likely outcome. The Boeing 737 Max has had many problems, with hundreds of deaths in two high profile crashes and the whole fleet being grounded for over a year while changes were designed and tested, and the 737 Max was re-certified. Boeing must be grateful that this latest problem doesn't appear to be their fault. More recently a passenger noticed, while looking out of the window just prior to take-off from Manchester (England) airport, that 4 bolts were missing from a wing panel, as reported the Mirror. The Airbus A330 wing-panel has a total of 119 fasteners, so the missing bolts were unlikely to have caused a crash. Such panels are often removed for inspections as part of routine maintenance, so this is not a case of the bolts having been forgotten at the factory. Many readers will have read that air travel is the safest form of travel. This, however, is calculated either per mile travelled, or per hour travelled, and, for me at least, air journeys are much longer (in both time and distance travelled). What I would like to see is statistics calculated per trip, so that we can all make an properly informed decision. This is a common problem with official statistics, which often tell us what someone else wants us to hear rather than what we need or want to hear. Such statistics should more properly be designated propaganda. As they say, "never trust statistics that you didn't falsify yourself." |
Posted on 30th December 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
I was struck by the contrast between the US and UK highlighted in this article on The Mirror, even though I already knew what it explains about UK law. Under US law, no-one is allowed to drink or buy alcohol until they are 21 years old. In the UK, people can buy alcohol once they reach 18 years, and can have alcohol bought for them, for example in a bar or restaurant, once they reach 16. In private premises, e.g. at home, when under parental supervision, someone can legally drink at 5 years old! There are a great number of studies showing that, when young people are introduced to alcohol in a safe and supervised environment, they are less likely to abuse alcohol and become alcoholics. Countries like France, Spain and Italy, where drinking wine with meals is part of the culture, have much lower rates of alcoholism. The statistics speak for themselves. The other oddity about US drinking laws has been pointed out by many writers: at 18 years old, one is considered old enough to join the military and die for one's country, but not old enough to drink alcohol. This has never made any sense to me. When my daughter was 5 years old, she would often open the bottle of wine for dinner, inspect it as she swilled it around the glass, smell it, taste it, and tell me whether it was OK. I would then ask her if she wanted any; sometimes she would say yes, and I would give her some mixed with water. She has grown up with a responsible attitude to alcohol. I think that it would be better for people if the US moved to an approach more like in Europe, but I can't see that happening any time soon. |
Posted on 28th December 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
As if there weren't already enough things to worry about with robotics and AI, now we also have to worry about malfunctions, as reported by The Daily Mail. An engineer at Tesla's Giga Texas factory near Austin was attacked and seriously injured by a malfunctioning robot, while programming two disabled Tesla robots nearby. He was seriously injured, and the factory floor was covered in blood. These kind of robots are not in any sense smart, but we should remember that AI can also malfunction (and sometimes does), and I dread to think of the carnage that could result. |
Posted on 28th December 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
This report by Ars Technica should worry everyone. It describes a new vulnerability of SSH. SSH, or Secure Shell Protocol, was invented in 1995, and provides secure access to remote computers. It provides not only command-line remote access, but also remote graphical applications (where the program runs on the remote computer and any windows that it opens appear on the local computer) using a feature called X11 forwarding. This may seem rather esoteric to some readers, but it is the basis of the administration of remote computer systems like web-servers and cloud servers. It is very powerful and easy to use, and until now has been considered impregnably secure. Now, however, it has been found to be vulnerable to a so-called "man in the middle" attack. We should expect a series of system penetration events, resulting in hackers gaining access to Internet-connected systems and stealing valuable data, ransomware attacks and the like. Luckily, I do not use SSH to access my servers while away from home. Instead, I have written some tools which allow me to do most of the system administration by other methods. |
Posted on 28th December 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
It seems that the hackers have been very busy lately. Xfinity, a division of Comcast, waited about 9 days to patch a high-severity vulnerability. During that delay, hackers stole password data and other sensitive information belonging to 36 million Xfinity customers, as reported by Ars Technica. The stolen passwords are cryptographically hashed, so will not give the hackers access to those customers' accounts, but the other data is not encrypted. Basically, the problem was caused by laziness on the part of Comcast. The LockBit ransomware group claims to have hacked accounting firm Xeinadin, which serves customers in the UK and Ireland, and is threatening to disclose the stolen data, according to Security Affairs. Stolen data apparently includes:
Europe’s largest parking app operator, owner of brands including RingGo and ParkMobile, has reported itself to information regulators in the EU and UK after hackers stole customer data, according to this report on The Guardian. Data stolen includes customer names, phone numbers, addresses, email addresses and parts of credit card numbers. Luckily, complete credit card numbers were not stolen. Rather more worrying is this security breach at Panasonic Avionics, which provides in-flight communications and entertainment systems, as reported by Bleeping Computer. Data stolen potentially includes:
The reason that this is so worrying is that the breach occurred on the 30th of December 2022, but has only now been reported to California's Attorney General. This just goes to prove that our data is not secure, whether it is held by government agencies or by companies. |
Posted on 25th November 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Racism). |
There have been quite cases of racism in the news recently, so this question seems relevant. Notable examples of racism include:
Of course, just because a nation has racism doesn't mean that it is getting worse, but my impression is that it is indeed getting worse. It is easy for a country's population to be open to immigration and equal opportunities for immigrants when that population has jobs, good housing and money, but that is no longer the case. Economic downturns due to the Covid pandemic and cyclic effects, inflation of food prices, the effort to be carbon neutral, and the impact of aging populations on pension systems and retirement ages has made people less willing to share their shrinking piece of the cake with foreigners, whether actually immigrants or simply different. The financial impacts are inevitably increasing racism. This is not so different to the situation with environmental issues: people are willing to recycle, to buy greener products etc. when they have enough money, but when times are hard they are not. |
Posted on 26th November 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
The argument that rich people are causing disproportionate environmental problems is proven by these two articles:
If the richest 1% are creating the same carbon emissions as the poorest 67%, then we can solve the climate crisis just by forcing them to cut their emissions by half. It won't solve the problem overnight, but it will eventually. People who control so much of the world's wealth have, anyway, a duty to take the lead in saving or planet; when those same people are directly responsible for causing the environmental crisis in the first place, it is time to force them to do the right thing. |
Posted on 16th November 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
![]() This report on Techspot describes a recent update to OneDrive, which requires a reason for why you want to disable service (see the picture to the right). I can think of a few perfectly reasonable reasons to turn of the OneDrive service (not least to comply with an employer's or customer's security policy), and it is none of Microsoft's business. All that Microsoft has achieved is to make the service less simple and pleasant to use, with te potential to drive customers away. |
Posted on 18th October 2023 |
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Things are not looking good for the world financial system. In China, the crises at Evergrande and Country Garden are just the highest profile examples to hit the press, as more than 50 Chinese are have defaulted on their debts, as reported by The New York Times. A major financial collapse in China will inevitably produce fall-out around the world. There are some other significant threats that have not yet come to pass. Many doomsayers are warning of societal collapse due to climate change, with financial collapse being just one symptom. For more on societal collapse, see the environment thread of this blog. It seems that humanity is unable to muster the collective will to stop climate change, so the consequences of it, including societal collapse, seem more inevitable with each passing day. Another threat is AI, as reported by Gizmodo. AI is penetrating all areas of life, including trading and financial institutions, and one of the problems with that is the lack of diversity of AI models in AI, leading to every institution making the same choices. This has led one expert, Gary Gensler (Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission), to predict that AI will cause a financial meltdown in the next 10 years unless there is comprehensive regulation of this use of AI very soon. Using AI for trading decisions is inherently dangerous, since it is not so different from algorithmic automated trading systems, which have already caused so much instability in the markets that their use has been heavily regulated. AI will simply bring more of the same, with the added complication that no-one knows how AI works. |
Posted on 17th October 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Service). |
I have been having a long battle with my German health insurers, HEK (Hanseatische Krankenkasse). They have been trying to overcharge me for my health insurance, by a very large margin. My insurance is Gesetzliche Krankenversucherung (statutory health insurance). This has a lot of advantages over private health insurance of the type common in the USA:
Early this year the HEK began trying to charge me around €930 per month, instead of the previous amount of about €250, which was obviously wrong. When I looked at the letter documenting how this fee was calculated, I easily discovered a gross error: they had included a term for fees calculated from money that they knew I wasn't earning - the difference between my actual income and the maximum amount that may be used to calculate fees, which is meant for information only. Since I am a pensioner, my account didn't contain enough to pay €930 per month, so the direct debit failed (in Germany, subscription services like insurance, utility bills etc. must normally be paid automatically by direct debit, rather than by cheque/check). I wrote several letters to my health insurers, explaining their error, informing them that I would pay what I calculated to be the correct rate (using the percentages defined by the government and listed in their letter) manually, and notifying them that I would not reauthorise the direct debit until they corrected their error. My last letter was sent on the 2nd of August 2023. I actually manually paid a little more than I calculated, just to be sure. Today (17th October 2023) I received several letters with correctly calculated fees, and a reduced premium for the current month as correction for my over-payments. There are several things which bother me about this sorry saga:
Germany is notorious for their convoluted and inefficient bureaucracy, but my experience is extreme even for this country. |
Posted on 15th October 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This BBC report shows the parlous state of the Amazon river, one of the largest in the world, with many shocking photos. The Amazon river provides food, water and transportation for many people living on and near to the river. If the river dies, then the Amazon rainforest, already severely reduced and degraded, will also die. That would be the beginning of the end for our world. |
Posted on 18th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This report on Vox highlights the scariest aspect of generative AI systems like ChatGPT; the developers cannot tell you how they work, and neither can the AI itself (many people have tried, but humans simply don't speak the language that AI uses internally). The idea that we are using, and plan in future to use even more widely, systems that are inherently unpredictable and amoral, should worry us all. Modern AI systems are not programmed in the conventional sense. The underlying neural network engine is coded, but the "intelligence" of AI comes from what it learns from huge sets of data, typically from the Internet (and we all know what a cess-pit of misinformation and immorality the Internet is). This has some consequences:
There are many examples in science fiction of what could go wrong due to an amoral AI. One of the most extreme is Avengers: Age of Ultron. |
Posted on 1st October 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on inews describes one climate scientist's view that society will completely collapse by 2050. He is so convinced of this that he has made preparations, including relocating his family and making his home proof against some of the consequences of such a collapse. I have written several posts about societal collapse in this thread of this blog: in summary, everything from law enforcement and government services, though supplies of food and water, to the banking system are likely to fail. One of the things that I and others have predicted is major water shortages, resulting in wars over access to water. Such problems are precisely what is going on in France right now, as reported here on Foreign Policy. Several parts of the USA have, or recently had, severe water shortages, with tensions between private consumers, industry and agriculture; between government and native American tribes; between different states in the USA; and between the USA and Mexico (over the usage of water from the Colorado River). There are water shortages all across Europe. The Panama canal has so little water that traffic through the canal has been limited, which is impacting availability and prices of internationally traded food. On the financial side, the Daily Mail reports "staggering losses" by a gold-plated pension scheme. There have been bank collapses this year in the USA. Some nation's currencies have major problems; the Turkish Lira, for example, is in free-fall. There is enormous international concern because of some company collapses (e.g. Evergrande) in China (once an economic powerhouse). Bearing all the above in mind, total societal collapse by 2050 seems somewhat optimistic. The early stages are happening now. |
Posted on 1st October 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This report on Upworthy is just so wrong. The headline says it all: "Lamp powered by seawater ...". If you know anything at all about batteries, you know that they are not powered by the electrolyte (in this case, seawater). The power is generated by the anode and cathode, through the transport (transportation, to any American readers) of material from them into the electrolyte. Journalists who understand so little about science and technology should not be allowed to write about them. |
Posted on 23rd September 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
There are some things in this makeuseof.com article on "Programming Languages That Are Heading for Extinction" that are no surprise, and others that are just plain wrong. For example, FORTRAN (intended for numeric computation and scientific computing) and PASCAL (designed as a teaching language, intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring) serve very little purpose nowadays. Modern programming languages are not primarily imperative in nature, and people need languages supporting modern and efficient concepts like object orientation and functional programming. Both FORTRAN and PASCAL are very old, and their extinction is no loss to the world. COBOL is also very old, and although, since an update in 2002, it supports object orientation, it has some serious limitations (such as the lack of a large library of standard functions, and the very large number of reserved words). It was widely used by financial institutions, whose unwillingness to invest in porting their code to new languages has kept COBOL alive this long. It has become increasingly difficult and expensive for those financial institutions to get skilled COBOL programmers to maintain their legacy code. It is way past time that COBOL was put out of its (and our) misery. I consider Visual Basic and Visual Basic Applications to be evidence of Microsoft's long effort to sabotage the world of software (both development and use), and few will mourn their passing. Which brings us to Perl, which is widely used in web development, where it is used for server-side scripting (if you want to access a database on the web-server, you absolutely need server-side scripting). It can be used for a range of programming styles (imperative, functional and object oriented, for example). There is a vast array of free Perl modules to perform almost every imaginable task. Perl has been to a significant extent been supplanted by PHP. 80% of web-servers run on Linux, which means that the main choices for server-side scripting are Perl, PHP and Java (there are other options). The article states that the downside of Perl is "higher CPU usage and memory requirements". I use Perl extensively on this web-site, and my experience contradicts this criticism. Perl performs at least 10 times better than PHP in terms of speed, CPU and memory usage. The resources used by Perl on this web-server are immeasurably small, whereas I found the CPU load from PHP was close to 100%. In addition, I consider PHP to have some serious security flaws. PHP is now banned on my web-hosting service because of its resource usage and security issues. So, thanks to makeuseof.com for the article, but get your facts right! |
Posted on 20th August 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread. |
Reuters reports that the German cabinet has passed a bill to legalise cannabis for recreational use. Although the bill has still to be passed by parliament, this is probably only a formality, and means that Germany will join the growing number of countries legalising cannabis/marijuana (more details on where and under what conditions it is legal here on Wikipedia). The bill will allow adults to possess "up to 25 grams (0.88 oz) of the drug, grow a maximum of three plants, or acquire weed as associates of non-profit cannabis clubs". The situation regarding cannabis in Germany has for decades been in limbo. In the late 1990s, the German federal government cancelled all federal legislation against cannabis, and left it to the Lände (states) to enact their own legislation; there was a period of about 3 months between the cancellation of the federal legislation and its replacement by state legislation when cannabis was legal. All states chose to make cannabis illegal, but most have chosen not to enforce those laws for possession for small quantities for personal use, although dealing and possession of larger quantities is prosecuted; the notable exception is Bavaria (where I live) which has continued to prosecute even possession of tiny amounts, and Bavaria may attempt to continue to do so despite the change of the law at the federal level. As someone who suffers from a lot of pain (due to a back injury), this change in the law is very welcome. |
Posted on 7th August 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
Electrek reports statistics about Earth Overshoot. These are statistic of which I was previously unaware, but really bring home how badly we have messed up. ![]() Earth Overshoot Day is the day in each year by which we have used up 100% of the resources that become available each year, and is currently the 2nd of August, but getting earlier each year. Another way of looking at this is that each year we are currently using 170% of the resources that the earth provides each year: clean air and water, forest products, fertile soil, pollination, fisheries, land use, etc. The graph to the right puts that all into focus. In other words, we are living on an overdraft. This obviously cannot continue. |
Posted on 7th August 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Tax). |
The Messenger reports that the US IRS (Internal Revenue Service) will be going fully paperless (i.e. digital) by 2025. This transformation will:
US citizens should not have any illusions about this digital transformation; the IRS will certainly screw it up, so that the full benefits may take several years to fully materialise. |
Posted on 6th August 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Salon.com presents the opinion of a physician that human civilisation is carcinogenic to our environment. I have no argument with that opinion; to me it seems unarguably true. There is, however, an entirely possible consequence of this opinion. If it is a fair characterisation, and we think of the natural environment as an organism, there is a non-zero risk that the planet may mount an immune response to humanity, treating us as an infection and attempting to rid itself of the plague of humans. This immune response could be of several forms:
I am sure that this list can easily be expanded. All this does not imply that there is any consciousness behind the changes, but statistically it looks as if something could be going on. The answer is not to to wage war with the natural world (I am not sure how we could wage war on natural disasters anyway); the answer is to learn to be better house guests on the planet that we share. |
Posted on 22nd July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on The Hill suggests that market forces would be sufficient to drastically reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. I disagree. The author argues that the price of fossil fuels is very heavily subsidised by governments, allowing oil, coal and gas to out-compete renewable energy, keeping the world hooked on such polluting resources, and that eliminating these subsidies would make fossil fuels uncompetitive. This is unarguable. My problems with the suggested approach to rebalancing energy markets using market forces are:
We have never paid the true cost of fossil fuels, because of the subsidies, and because of the costs due to pollution that have always been paid by others (mainly governments and the populace at large). Paying the true cost means not only removing subsidies, but also charging the industry for the costs to us all of using this source of energy. |
Posted on 18th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This story on UPI reports on a new piece of software, WormGPT, which is intended for use by criminals. WormGPT uses generative artificial intelligence. In a test, researchers used it to create a scam email to persuade companies to pay fraudulent invoices; apparently it was a very persuasive email. Whilst it is no surprising that AI is being used for criminal activity, it surprised me how quickly it was created and marketed. |
Posted on 13th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Tourism). |
This article on The BBC reports on a survey of their readers conducted by The Telegraph, which concluded that South Africa is the best country in the world to visit. I beg to differ. The article waxes lyrical about Cape Town, which is indeed a great destination, but is not representative of the whole country. I have been to South Africa quite a few times; I have friends and family there. There is a huge number of problems in South Africa, for example:
Constant infrastructure thefts (telephone/Internet cables, railway tracks and even whole railway stations). Most of these problems have been gong on for decades, and show no signs of being fixed. Do you still want to go to South Africa? If so, I suggest Cape Town. I also recommend that you only go if you have friends there with whom you can stay, and who can teach you how to stay safe. |
Posted on 13th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This story on The BBC reports on Microsoft's attempt to take over major games publisher Activision Blizzard, makers of Call Of Duty, World Of Warcraft and Candy Crush. For Microsoft this is business as usual. The company has a long history of being bad at innovation, and of solving this problem by taking over companies to fill the innovation gap; this has been going on since the very early days of Windows. I think that it might be time for the authorities to break up Microsoft, in the same way as they did to AT&T. This would not only help solve their innovation shortfall, but also help stamp out Microsoft's uncompetitive practices. |
Posted on 12th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
I was triggered to write this post by this article on Hackaday. The author, Bryan Cockfield, suggests one reason why, despite computer hardware becoming faster every year, computers do not run any faster. What he says is that software is now being written in a more lazy way, using development frameworks, packaged services and more abstraction; the reasons include allowing software to run on more platforms, and reducing the time and cost of development. While the effect that he describes certainly exists, it is not the whole story. The phenomenon commonly described as bloatware has been around for the entire history of computers. Here are some of my thoughts on the reason and the impacts. We are all aware of the constant stream of updates to operating systems and applications, whether you are a Windows user, a Mac user or a Linux user. Some updates fix security flaws and some add functionality. In general, it is more difficult to retrofit (add as an afterthought) something to software (especially if the functionality was not originally foreseen in the software). Updates are, simply put, the reason for our computers getting constantly slower. AbstractionThe growth in abstraction is a major cause of the constantly reducing efficiency and speed of software, which is Bryan Cockfield's thesis, and this trend is gathering pace. It is worth noting, however, that not all abstraction slows your software down. I use Linux on my laptops and servers, and when I need to use Microsoft tools I use a virtual machine, which runs Windows as a guest on a Linux machine through abstraction; the performance of Windows and Office is better using such an abstracted environment than it is in native mode. The reason is that native Linux services (memory management, file system services, etc.) are so much faster than Microsoft native mode services that the gains more than offset any inefficiencies due to the abstraction layer. It is nevertheless true that the type of abstraction used nowadays in writing software is much less efficient. Security UpdatesA lot of the regular updates pushed out to our computers are to deal with security vulnerabilities. In operating systems like windows, where security was not properly thought about in the design of the software architecture, adding extra security often adds huge inefficiencies. Operating systems like Linux (and MacOS, which is based on Linux) have an inherently better security architecture, and adding security features tends to add fewer inefficiencies. Nevertheless, for most users, it is usually a good idea to install these security updates; the amount of system slow-down will depend on your operating system and on the exact nature of the update. Functionality UpdatesFunctionality updates are more likely to include abstraction layers, and therefore likely to slow your system down. Since Windows generally does not allow you to refuse an update (you might be able to defer it for a while), you will have to install functional updates if you use Windows. Linux never forces you to accept updates, so you always have a choice. Some functional updates also inherently add load to your system, because they are doing more (for example the Excel feature, added several years ago, that displays the sum, mean and count of a range of cells that you have selected). Other UpdatesSometimes, updates break things. This happened with Sheryl's Windows laptop, where updates kept disabling the bluetooth interface, until finally it could not be re-enabled. Users have similar complaints about iOS updates on their iPhones. After the introduction of Windows 11, Microsoft rolled out an update to the update software itself. This caused Windows 10 system to download and attempt to install the upgrade the system to Windows 11. Part of this upgrade process is to check whether the system is capable of being upgraded; if not, the upgrade fails, and the whole process starts again. This puts a huge load on the system (downloading, querying the hardware, starting an upgrade), making it unusable (connections to network drives fail, and lots of RAM is allocated to the upgrade process). Millions of Windows 10 users were left with unusable systems. There is a third-party fix for this problem, but no fix from Microsoft themselves. This is the most significant performance impacting update that Microsoft has ever rolled out, but not the only one. Comparing Operating SystemsIn 2012 I bought the Acer laptop that I am using to write this post. I immediately replaced the Windows operating system with Ubuntu Linux. It has Quad i7 processors, 16GB of RAM and I replaced the hard disc with an SSD. This system still works well, and is very fast. A year or two later Sheryl bought a laptop (an ASUS, with i5 processors and 4BG of RAM). It came with Windows 8.0, but has now been upgraded to Windows 10; it is not capable of being upgraded to Windows 11. For at least the last 3 years this laptop has been unusably slow (10 minutes to boot, 10 minutes to login, more than 30 minutes to open a simple spreadsheet, even after installing the third-party fix to the Windows 11 upgrade problem. This is all due to software bloat. Admittedly my laptop is higher specification than Sherly's, but nevertheless the above facts show that software bloat is vastly worse with Windows; this is why Linux fans call it Windoze. |
Posted on 11th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
The headline of this report on Common Dreams says it all: "Former UN Climate Chief Admits She Was Wrong That Fossil Fuel Industry Could Be an Ally ." How stupid is this woman? Big Oil is demonstrably just as untrustworthy as Big Tobacco, but this woman, Christiana Figueres, thought that these companies could be an ally in the fight against climate change. This level of stupidity and gullibility should disqualify someone from holding a position such as United Nations climate chief. Time for the UN to overhaul their hiring practice. |
Posted on 11th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on The BBC reports that deforestation in the Amazon is down by 33.6% in the first six months of the new Brazilian president's term. While this might seem to be good news, what we really and urgently need is reforestation. |
Posted on 11th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on The Next Web aligns with what I have been saying for some time. Water is becoming a greater and greater problem around the world: "Demand is skyrocketing but supply is diminishing." There are again droughts in the USA (in California, Arizona and in the maize/corn growing parts of the great plains). River levels are again low in rivers in Europe, affecting river traffic on the Rhine. I strongly believe that water shortages will drive massive increases in migration, and potentially also wars. So it is no surprise to me that water technology, to solve the issues of shortages, will be a huge growth industry in the near future. |
Posted on 11th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on The Guardian is very worrying. It shows that the EU suffers from the same poison of lobbying as exists in the USA, which undermines democracy. The EU had promised to "outlaw all but the most essential of Europe’s hazardous chemicals", including PFAS and other toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. Now, however, the EU’s executive are planning to climbdown under heavy pressure from Europe’s chemical industry and rightwing political parties. The real problem with all this is that the lobbyists' arguments make no financial sense. The EU's analysis shows that the savings in the costs of treating illnesses such as cancer and obesity would amount to €11bn-€31bn (£9.4bn-£26.5bn) a year, whereas the costs to industry of banning these polluting chemicals would be around €0.9bn-€2.7bn a year (about a tenth of the savings). I do not understand why the EU is bowing to industry lobbying, when there is no financial justification, and banning these harmful chemicals would yield enormous benefits in terms of health, quality of life and life expectancy. |
Posted on 11th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
The BBC often posts articles that should contain multiple photographs, but actually only contain one. I find this latest piece particularly annoying, since the headline ("Ansel Adams: Eight of the most iconic photos of the American West") clearly implies that it contains eight photos. This morning, when I opened the report, there was only one; now (a few hours later) it contains all eight. Sometimes it works out like that, which shows that they are posting reports before they are finished. Sometime the missing photos are never added. I used to have better expectations of the BBC, but I have long since learned that they are not the quality news organisation that they once were. |
Posted on 8th July 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
A recent study on tap water quality is reported on by Reuters and the Daily Mail (the Daily Mail article is more comprehensive). The study shows that nearly half (45%) of the 700 tested tap water samples were polluted with PFAS (perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances), commonly referred to as forever chemicals because they do not degrade in the environment nor in human or animal bodies, at levels exceeding safety benchmarks and U.S. proposed regulations (the EPA does not yet have enforceable regulations for PFAS). PFAS are highly toxic and carcinogenic (cancer causing). PFAS are used in textiles, fire suppressant foams (used extensively by firefighters at airfields), non-stick cookware, etc. One sample, in Brunswick County, North Carolina, contained 46,000 times the proposed EPA limit! Other pollution hot spots include a region in Iowa, Philadelphia and Miami; I have friends in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida. Americans don't drink so much bottled water, because tap water is cheaper (free in bars and restaurants), and most of them don't like sparkling water. They might want to think again about those choices. The next time I am in the US and someone criticises me for drinking bottled (sparkling) water they are going to get an earful. |
Posted on 24th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
Since I wrote this and this, there has been a change in Germany's position on immigration. For skilled workers, the German government has passed new legislation to relax immigration rules, as reported here, here and here on Deutsche Welle. The change is needed and well overdue. There is, however, something missing from their strategy. There is a large pool of skilled and experienced people within Germany which could also be utilised to fill the shortage of skilled workers: people who are retired. Germany has compulsory retirement at age 66 (only for permanent employees, not freelance contractors), and if the retirement regulations were relaxed, many people with vital skills would be willing and able to return to the workforce. This compulsory retirement has resulted in a strong prejudice against utilising older people even as freelance contractors, which will take some effort to overcome, but the benefits to the nation and the potential workers would be enormous. I am not suggesting that it be required that people over 66 return to work, but it should be an option for those who want to. |
Posted on 23rd June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
In case you don't accept my opinion that the veneer of civilisation is very thin, this report on The Guardian provides more proof. The story is about forced sterilisations in Japan: "between 1948 and 1996, about 16,500 people were operated on without their consent under a eugenics law ... that was not repealed until the 1990s". Unsurprisingly, the victims want compensation. The victims were each offered government compensation of "¥3.2m ($22,800) – an amount campaigners have said does not reflect the suffering the victims had experienced." The report also points out that Germany and Sweden had similar eugenics laws, repealed decades before that in Japan, and those governments have since apologised to victims and paid compensation. Eugenics legislation is inherently barbaric, and I find it bizarre that Japan, Germany and Sweden had such laws in place, despite the world having fought a war against Nazi Germany partly on the justification of their eugenics programmes against Jews, Gypsies and the like. I do, however, take issue with the statement by campaigners in Japan that the offered compensation "does not reflect the suffering the victims had experienced", which seems to be based on the concept that reproduction is an inalienable human right, with which I strongly disagree:
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Posted on 22nd June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
While the headline of this report on EcoWatch is a little misleading, it is nonetheless worrying news. A study by the University of Exeter has calculated that the climate for billions of people (so, a very significant portion of the human population) will move outside of the “human climate niche”, which is defined in terms of temperature, due to climate change. Already, 9% of the world population are living outside of this climate niche. The impacts will be huge, and include:
The worst affected places will be India and parts of Africa, but will also include South East Asia, The Middle East, Central America, some Pacific Islands, and even Australia. |
Posted on 13th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
Although this article on Common Dreams reads like a propaganda piece, full of rants and political bias, with phrases like "the oil companies' choice to use their monopoly over the energy system to offset their falling profits" and "the funding of the repressive apparatus", the author makes a good point (and he is not the first). His thesis is in the title: "The Climate Crisis Will Be the Mother of All Financial Crises", and that some of our recent economic woes (inflation, supply chain problems and bank collapses) are just a foretaste of what the climate crisis will bring. The arguments are the same as those of the people warning us of societal collapse, which I wrote about here. A major financial crisis is the most likely trigger for societal collapse, and that means that we can look forward to not only raging inflation and the loss of our investments, government benefits (tax allowances, unemployment benefit and health care) and pensions, but the resulting collapse of international trading (so, no more coffee for most of us, no out of season fruit and vegetables, and so on), law and order, public transport (transportation, to any Americans), the services that supply us with electricity, water, sewage handling, garbage collection, etc. As a result, we can forget voting and constitutional rights, eating regularly and safe drinking water. Life is likely to become very unpleasant, difficult and unsafe. Those people, often viewed as nut jobs, who are survivalists, with a bunker, guns, batteries, stockpiles of food and generators won't look so crazy if it all comes to pass. |
Posted on 13th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
The Daily Mail reports on a push by Germany to get the EU to adopt an immigration policy, similar to the UK's system (still being blocked by legal hurdles), to send asylum seekers to Rwanda (or elsewhere). This is causing rifts in Germany's ruling coalition, with MPs from the Greens and the dominant SDP fighting against the proposals. In Germany, as elsewhere, immigration is a contentious issue. Germany has accepted a lot of refugees in the last few years, for example:
Some readers may be surprised to find out that Germany, which has a reputation as being fairly welcoming of immigrants and refugees, is leading the charge to keep them out of the EU. The stated reason is that they want to keep Europe's borders open, and are concerned that, without some action to limit immigration, some EU states, such as Hungary, may take unilateral and more drastic action to limit immigration. Germany's real concern with that is, if immigrants can't get into some other nations, more of them will come to Germany. Behind all of this is the widespread concern that the numbers of immigrants and refugees, already rising, will reach unmanageable levels in the near future, due to the effects of climate change and continuing wars. Mass migration is one of the things I have previously warned about here and here as consequences of climate change. Although I wrote, here, a few days ago that most developed nations need more immigration to boost their economies, fill skill shortages and fund pension schemes, there is obviously a limit to the number of immigrants that any nation can absorb, and I therefore can't blame Germany for trying to impose some controls. |
Posted on 11th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
One rationale used to sell the idea of Brexit to the British voters was to reclaim UK sovereignty, but it seems, from this report on The Telegraph, that it is not going to happen. The EU is currently revising and simplifying their 'breakfast directives', which regulate the quality and contents of breakfast foods. One of the directives applies to jam (fruit preserves), and the update will require higher fruit content than is currently the norm in Britain. If UK jam manufacturers want to continue exporting to EU markets, they will have to change their recipes to include more fruit. This reminds me of the "sausage scandal" shortly after the UK joined the EU. There was an imminent threat of British sausages being made illegal (even in Britain) due to insufficient meat content. If I remember correctly the threat was averted by negotiating a relaxation of the rules. That negotiated settlement is now defunct; there are also new problems regarding the export of 'chilled meat preparations', e.g. sausage and minced meat, to the UK, from the start of 2021. Despite having been born and grown up in the UK, I have no patriotic or emotional attachment to most British food and drink products:
There is a very small, and ever shrinking, list of British good that we buy:
I am sure that many Brits find it galling that the EU has the temerity to regulate the quality of food sold in the EU, when it effects British manufacturers, but personally, I am very happy that the quality and safety of the food I buy is controlled, for example:
British sausage producers are also crying about no longer being able to export to the EU, since 2021, but the problem is easily solved. In Germany, sausages are usually sold partly cooked (cooked, but not browned) and would be exempt from the EU regulations on the import of raw processed meat products; they are also coated in a water-based gel, which cooks off when you finish them off in the pan or oven, thus improving keeping qualities. There doesn't seem to be any issue with exporting bacon to the EU, since it is not considered a processed raw meat product (it is chemically cooked by the curing process, and also preserved by smoking). If Brits want to continue to eat garbage, for reasons of tradition, feel free, but don't expect to be able to sell that garbage to other nations. So, anyway, regained sovereignty is yet another promise of Brexit that has not been delivered. Is anyone surprised? |
Posted on 8th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This article on The BBC reports on a statement by the deputy head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinath, that immigration can help drive down UK inflation. This makes complete sense, and one has to ask oneself why it even needed to be pointed out. The answer, of course, is that governments around the world are trying very hard to limit immigration. Voters in richer nations are generally against immigration, mainly due to prejudice (just search the Internet for old news stories about "Polish plumbers", who were accused of stealing jobs from Brits - immigrants are typically accused of stealing jobs from locals, and simultaneously accused of living off of government benefits, which is contradictory). Governments in countries such as the UK, USA, Germany, etc. would like to encourage immigration, but don't dare to, because they will face a backlash from voters. Immigration solves a number of important and otherwise intractable problems:
Sadly, governments have yet to pluck up the courage to face this issue, and to educate their voters about the importance of immigration; instead, they make their countries poorer and less competitive by trying to get by. It is past time for these governments to grow a backbone. |
Posted on 8th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
According to this BBC report, Australia has finally decide to ban Nazi symbols. It is about time! Many other nations, especially in Europe, have long had legislation against the display of Nazi symbols (see the list on Wikipedia), and in Australia some states already have their own bans. Australia is banning the Swastika and SS symbols, but not the Nazi salute (although it is banned in Victoria and Tasmania). The planned legislation will have exemptions for Swastika-like religious symbols (upon which the Swastika itself was based) such as those used in Hinduism. Sometimes the distinction between Nazi Swastika and some of these religious symbols is hard to see, so their might be some rather fraught court cases on this. I would like to welcome Australia to civilised society; their joining provides some counterbalance to the exits of the USA, Britain Poland, Israel and Hungary. |
Posted on 8th June 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
This article on Le Monde (in English) reports that airline pilots are concerned that they will be replaced on the flight deck by AI systems which can fly the plane. Their worries are unfounded. Passengers will simply not accept being flown by AI systems. What is likely to happen is that flight deck crews will be reduced in size (large long-distance flights typically operate with a crew of 3: a pilot, a copilot and a flight engineer). There is a basic safety engineering problem preventing the complete safe replacement of flight crew with computers. Computers have no common sense, and so cannot deal with situations for which they are not programmed (in the case of AI, programming means training). That means that every possible scenario has to be foreseen, and the systems must be trained (and tested) for each scenario. Human pilots are able to fill these gaps in training with common sense, by extrapolating from situations for which they were trained, and by applying high-level principles; AI systems cannot do this; although AI capabilities are improving in these areas, it will never be possible to to have the 100% confidence in their abilities that would be needed for safety critical systems. There is a method used in safety engineering, called failure modes analysis, which requires the designers of safety critical and mission critical systems to envisage what usage scenarios (which would include flight scenarios, in the case of flight systems) could occur, and what system failures could occur, in order to create a design that can cope with such failures and usage scenarios (known as Use Cases). Failure modes analysis relies on the application of common sense and applied paranoia by engineers. This is, however, a far cry from designing a system that can automate something such as flying an aircraft. There have been many well documented failures of failure modes analysis (e.g. the flight control system responsible for the Boeing 737 Max crashes). In fact safety and reliability engineering is notorious for its failures, through lack of common sense, inadequate paranoia, and flawed technical analysis and faulty knowledge about how mechanical and electronic components can fail. In the short term it is likely that AI will be used to reduce the size of flight crews by providing advice on what actions the pilot should take during emergencies, negating the need for memorizing flight manuals (cockpits currently have these manuals on paper, but it often takes too long to look things up), and speeding pilot responses. This is now considered tried and trusted technology (I worked on such a system in the 1980s!). The article on Le Monde does mention some AI based flight control systems that can fly the plane, including landing and take-off, but, for the reasons that I have listed above, these are not safe in a comprehensive sense, and will not be licensed for use without pilots; a pilot will always be needed to override any AI-based flight control system when it makes a mistake. So yes, the jobs of some flight crew may be lost to AI, but AI is not going to completely replace humans in the cockpit, and most of the replacement will be achieved by natural wastage, not redundancies. |
Posted on 10th May 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This article on The Telegraph (unfortunately, behind a paywall) reports that a professional body for technology workers has suggested that people should be required to have a licence in order to develop AI. Although it is a nice idea, it seems to be totally unenforceable. Nevertheless, it gives a good indication of how dangerous groups in the know feel AI is. This report on The Guardian discusses the problem of "hallucination", which is when you ask an AI chatbot for a definition of something made up, and it gives you one, along with detailed footnotes. This is potentially extremely dangerous. The most concerning article that I have seen about AI in the last few days is this report on ZDNet. The author asked different AI chatbots what worried them. The answer seems to be, AI worries them. That is totally frightening. |
Posted on 11th May 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
The Covid-19 CrisisThis article on the BBC reports on the recent announcement by the WHO (World Health Organisation) that Covid-19 no longer represents a "global health emergency". Most of you had probably already noticed that things had become much more relaxed, with mask rules rescinded virtually everywhere, and less government pressure to get vaccines or boosters. You should, however, be aware that there are a few Covid related restrictions in force. including those on international travel. Basically, if you want to fly to another country, you still need to have proof of up to date vaccinations; expect this requirement to continue for a couple of years. VaccinesIt has become clear over the last two years that vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes Covid-19) become less effective over a period of about 6 months. This has spawned the industry of booster shots. Now, as reported by Futurity, a group of researchers at Rutgers University have developed a new vaccine which they hope will provide longer lasting protection. That hope is not, as yet, proven (only time will tell), so don't get too excited. The new vaccine, MT-001, is still based on the virus' spike protein, which is very prone to mutations, so this news report could be nothing more than wishful thinking. Long CovidThere is little progress regarding Long Covid; certainly nothing groundbreaking. Long Covid seems to be a group of different syndromes with different symptoms. This inconvenient fact is the main reason why there is, so far, no reliable diagnostic test for the condition. It also means that there is unlikely to be a single effective treatment. |
Posted on 7th May 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This article on Yahoo Finance contains a warning by Paul Christiano, a former researcher at OpenAI, that AI "could soon surpass human capabilities", and that there is a non-zero chance that human- or superhuman-level A.I. could take control of humanity and even annihilate it." He said that ". “I think maybe there's a 10 to 20% chance of A.I. takeover [with] many, most humans dead.” We are not talking about the usual doomsayers here, but an expert in the field, so his warning should not be taken lightly. This piece on the BBC, reports on the resignation from Google of Geoffrey Hinton, widely considered the godfather of artificial intelligence. In his resignation letter he warns about the growing dangers of AI, and says that he now regrets his work. This article on Venture Beat, by Louis Rosenberg (also an expert in the field of AI) not only outlines three of the better known risks posed by AI (the risk to jobs, the risk of fake content and the risk of sentient machines), but adds another to the list: AI generated interactive media, which will be way more targeted and manipulative than what we have today. This could take propaganda to a whole new level. This seems to me to be a very serious risk, and one that would bypass consumers' resistance to advertising and utterly undermine democracy. I also dread to think what might happen if/when crooks start to use AI to scam people. Despite these and many other warnings, corporations are ploughing ahead with AI development (AI is getting smarter all the time) and deployment (AI is now accessible to all of us), and governments are doing nothing. Apparently, we are too stupid to save ourselves (as also seems to be the case with climate change). |
Posted on 4th May 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
I am astounded by the level of ignorance of the people described in this report on the Nottingham Post. People are claiming that they feel "'violated' after they learn what Parmesan is made of". Their issue is the use of rennet to make cheese. Rennet is a cocktail of enzymes found in the stomachs of young animals (calves, lambs, goats etc.), which digests components of milk. Rennet is a byproduct of slaughtering animals for meat. How on earth did they not know this basic fact about food production? Just to be clear, rennet is used in the production of almost all cheeses, not only Parmesan. There are vegetarian rennet substitutes, which are used in cheese manufacture, although these vegetarian cheeses are hard to find and usually more expensive. The reason that I am so shocked by this ignorance is that, in my experience, vegetarians and vegans are usually eager to tell us meat eaters how unhealthy our diets are, quoting research and nutritional guides about risks from cholesterol and preservatives, as well as the arguments about cruelty to animals. How is it that they can devote so much time and effort to researching such matters, and miss the facts about rennet? The discovery of rennet, and the invention of cheese in all its glorious forms, were major milestones in human nutrition. The majority of the world's adult population cannot digest milk (animals, including most humans, stop producing rennet once weaned). Cheese is digestible since rennet is used in its creation, so people who can't drink milk can eat cheese. Cheese making thus added a valuable source of nutrition, which would have otherwise gone to waste, to people's diets. Cheese also has the advantage of keeping much longer than unprocessed milk. I feel that some people need to open their eyes and see the world, especially in the age of the Internet, with virtually all of human knowledge available online to everyone. In this day and age, ignorance can only be the result of stupidity and/or laziness. I am a total cheese addict, and I make no apologies for eating a product that utilises a byproduct of meat production. |
Posted on 29th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
It is medlar (Mispel in German) season again, so they are appearing in the shops. I wrote 2 years ago about finding medlars in my local supermarket, and how bizarre I found it that there are no warning signs. Medlars need to be "bletted" (basically, rotted, normally done by burying them in sawdust) before they can be eaten. If you eat them before they are bletted, they are very astringent, and can make you ill. I once had medlars as a child, and thought they were great. Those were bletted on the bush, rather than in sawdust, so I always thought that there had to be an easier method than using sawdust. Today, Sheryl returned from a shopping trip with a "new fruit" to try: medlars. I searched on Google, and found this page on The Guardian, which describes bletting the medlars on a plate at room temperature. I have put Sheryl's purchase in a bowl, wrapped in a tea towel (to keep the flies off of them). I am hoping they turn out OK. If you want to read more about medlars, there is a very extensive article on Country Life. They used to be very popular, but because of the need for bletting, the fact that they can't be transported once edible, and the sad truth that they don't look very appetising, they have fallen out of favour. I do, however, encourage you to try them. |
Posted on 29th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
I was having a conversation recently with someone who is the head of a large kindergarten. It was during the annual teacher-parent conference season, during which teachers have to prepare a document detailing each child's performance, highlighting any problems that need attention; there is then a meeting between the teachers and parents to discus the child's progress and problems. This year there were a number of problems, including plagiarism by some of the teachers, bad news being delivered in extremely undiplomatic language, and conference documents missing vital information that needed to be addressed by the parents. The boss of the kindergarten head suggested that it be investigated whether the conferences could be written by ChatGPT instead of by the teachers. I feel that this is a slippery slope; the ability to write these conference documents is a basic part of the teachers' jobs, and if they can't do it to an acceptable standard, they shouldn't be teaching. Since then I was watching an episode of Bill Maher's Real Time, and heard how a university professor told his students that he knew they were using ChatGPT to wite the essays and assignments, and that they should realise that he was also using ChatGPT to mark/grade them. So, no human in the loop. There are more examples of humans being removed from transactions:
This article on NewsChain reports the statement by the UK's new Secretary of State for Science, Michelle Donelan, that AI like ChatGPT could have "a role in Whitehall". I shudder to think what kind of role or roles she has in mind: writing legislation? That would be a major step towards humans being ruled by AI. Meanwhile, Elon Musk continues to try to warn the world about the dangers of AI, and suggests that we take a pause in the development of AI, according to this report on Reuters. Well, good luck with that idea; the genie is already out of the bottle. Also, the world is not listening; company greed trumps common sense and caution every time. Just to prove Elon Musk right, this article on Science Focus reports on robots, created by AI from living tissue, which can reproduce! We are all doomed. |
Posted on 6th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
There is a new report on The London Economic showing that the British public is now firmly in favour (61:39) of reversing Brexit. That is a larger majority than the winning party gets in most general elections. I don't want to say "I told you so!", but I told you so. It seems that the voting public has had enough of the the list of downsides keeping getting longer, and the benefits having largely failed to materialise. I suspect it may be too late, with too many bridges having been burnt. At the very least, the UK may have to pay to rejoin, as they had to pay to leave. In part, the whole Brexit debacle is a demonstration of what is wrong with modern government: governing by ideology as opposed to governing by facts and proven theory. This political sickness is not unique to Britain, but British history is full of drastic and expensive examples of this approach. Here are a few examples:
There are many more examples here. What is wrong with governments insisting on thoroughly analysed theories, and properly testing those theories, before implementing them as new policies? Every other profession insists on this approach (although, of course, there is the nub of the problem: politicians are not professionals, but rather amateurs). Of course, I do understand that, in the case of Brexit, there were (and still are) other factors at play. At root, Brexit was about power; about British politicians trying to claw back the power they had lost to Brussels. Hence the enormous quantity of propaganda, often trivially easy to debunk during the Brexit campaign, and even now during the aftermath as politicians attempt to justify their stand. It seems clear to me that the biggest single problem with politics today is politicians. The last person you want in charge of government is anyone who wants the job. |
Posted on 20th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
According to this report on The Guardian, prices in UK supermarkets have increased by up to 80% in the last year. Unfortunately the Guardian doesn't analyse the causes, but hints that the government is somehow to blame. I, however, have a slightly different perspective. Price increases are generally a result of shortages, and there have been a number of these in recent months. Also, it is not just Britain that is effected. Grocery prices have increased in Germany and across continental Europe, and in the USA, although there is the Brexit effect to consider. There are no longer any real local markets for produce; everything is shipped around the world, so shortages and price rises impact everyone. There have been well reported shortages of salad vegetables (grown under glass) due to unusual winter weather in Spain, and of course, during such shortages producers choose to export to countries which are easier to export to (i.e. not the UK). This explains the increase of 142% in the UK price of tomatoes since 2019; it is reasonable to assume that tomato prices will fall as the 2023 growing season gets into full swing. It should also be remembered that there is a shortage of energy, as a result of sanctions against Russia, due to the war in Ukraine. Energy is used to heat and irrigate greenhouse crops, and is also used to ship the crops to their end markets, so more expensive energy is pushing up the price of all groceries. There is also an increasing demand for goods produced more environmentally, demonstrated by the increased sales of organic food. This inevitably drives up prices. Everyone always says that they understand and accept that being more environmental will increase prices; until, that is, their supermarket bills get bigger. Time to "man up" and "walk the talk". |
Posted on 20th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
There are so many issues with this report on the BBC. New Zealand has a lot of problems with invasive species such as dogs, cats, rats, mice etc. The invaders kill native species such as kiwis. To combat the problem, each year there is a competition to hunt and kill feral cats. In the latest competition, a new category was introduced for children of 14 years and younger. This resulted in an outcry, and the category has been withdrawn. The feral cats are killed by shooting them. New Zealand is very much a nation of "hunting, shooting and fishing". The backlash against children shooting the wild cats was on the grounds of animal cruelty. Also cited by New Zealand's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was the fact that neither children nor adults would be able to distinguish between feral cats and wandering pets. The issues that I have with this bizarre competition include:
|
Posted on 14th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This report on Ars Technica has me very worried. It is about the "Wolverine" experiment, a program that can be used to give Python programs the ability to "fix" and re-execute themselves. Self-modifying code is the beginning of the end for humanity. It is technology that should be avoided at all costs, because it will lead to the AI apocalypse. The risks of such technology has been, and continues to be, thoroughly explored in many science fiction books, movies and TV series (e.g. "2001: A Space Odyssey" "Next"), so I don't feel that I need to explain it all again. If this ability can be given to Python programs, it can easily be extended to other programming languages. We are all doomed! |
Posted on 14th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
This story on The Pink News reports on a new bill under consideration in Florida (USA) that would allow doctors, healthcare providers and medical insurers to refuse to treat patients or pay for their treatment on the grounds of “conscience-based objections without… threat of adverse actions". Doctors could therefore claim to have religious, moral or ethical objections to treating LGBTQ+ patients, or to providing medical care such as birth control. Indeed, the list of groups to which religious, moral or ethical objections could be claimed is endless, and includes religions, ethnic groups, and genders. This bill, if it becomes law, would undo decades of progress in the USA on equal rights. I don't even see how such a law would be legal, since it seems to be in contravention of much federal law. America seems to be regressing, and fast, at the moment. |
Posted on 10th April 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
I am getting thoroughly fed up with the constant corruption of my language (English - my native language, in which I have three separate qualifications) by the woke-brigade. Words and phrases that are established parts of English are constantly being given new meanings in the name of political correctness. In some cases this is not a problem, but in many it creates ambiguity, and even means that some things can no longer be used with their original meanings, for fear of offending someone (such as the case of the Black Bitch pub in Scotland).
It is worth remembering that offence is in the ear of the listener, and not necessarily in the mind of the speaker. |
Posted on 26th March 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
This article on My Modern Met reports on a study which has shown that early retirement is not good for your mental health. Well, duh! There is already plenty of research that shows the same. If you ask a man what he is, he will typically answer with his job, but if you ask a woman , she will usually reply with a more personal answer. Then when the man retires, unless he has one or more engrossing and challenging hobbies, he will often be dead in 5 to 10 years, with cognitive decline being a major cause. Often, his wife's raison d'etre was looking after he man, and once he dies, her decline begins. My father always had many projects on the go, building and mending stuff, and thankfully never went into cognitive decline. He died from other illnesses, and almost immediately thereafter, my mother was diagnosed with dementia. This kind of scenario is repeated time and time again around the world. So, not only is early retirement not good for you, retirement at any age can trigger the start of a decline in health, mental and physical. I therefore find it bizarre that Germany has a compulsory retirement age (currently 66 years old). This condemns many people to failing health, adding a financial burden on the state, as well as robbing the government of much needed tax revenue. There are a number of other nations that have mandatory retirement, and the same consequences for people's health and the economy. Many countries are currently reviewing their retirement legislation (the age, and whether or not it is compulsory), motivated, at least in part, by the fact that government pensions are underfunded as the age of their populations increases. One thing that I do find bizarre is the reaction (protests and strikes) in France because the government is trying to increase the retirement age from its current 62 years. It seems that French workers do not know what is good for them. |
Posted on 26th March 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
This report on The Sun describes a worrying trend in the UK. Mr. Carnie parked in a privately managed public car park for 30 minutes on two consecutive days last year, but because the cameras didn't log him leaving the first day, he was fined £100 for 23 hours of parking. If you don't pay the fine, a County Court Judgment can be issued, meaning that debt collectors can come to your home (or place of work) to seize assets (unless you can pay there and then). The article has little information about the car parking rules (I didn't expect good journalism from The Sun anyway) at Tower Retail Park in Crayford, Kent, but an online search yielded the information that parking is free, with a maximum parking time of 3 hours. There are cameras at the car park, connected to an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system, and fines are issued based on the data the system produces. Mr. Carnie appealed the fine with independent adjudicator "Parking On Private Land Appeals" (POPLA) but was rejected. He also contacted the British Parking Association (BPA) by whom Nexus (the company which manages the car park) are represented, but they also came to "the same conclusion". Since then, however, GroupNexus have now offered to cancel the charge "as a gesture of goodwill". Mr. Carnie is understandably unhappy with this solution, since it implies that he was at fault and that the company has "generously" decided to forgive the debt (this is a bit like accepting a plea deal when charged with a crime you didn't commit). Some research has shown Mr. Carnie that these mistaken parking fines are extremely common (I found some examples while searching for the parking rules of the car park); it is worth reading the article to see the inconsistencies in the data upon which the fines are based. He is therefore campaigning to have the ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) systems in car parks scrapped "until the data they produce is of a standard that would hold up in court". The worrying trend that I mentioned in the first paragraph is that people, and courts, now believe that automated systems like ANPR are infallible, and will enforce fines while ignoring any facts that contradict the official narrative. This is akin to the unfounded belief that some people have, that "it must be true, because I read it on the Internet". Personally, I feel that criminal charges should be brought against Nexus for fraudulent demands for money. |
Posted on 15th March 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cloud Services). |
I found this article on The A Register very interesting. A company (Ahrefs) in Singapore compared the cost of buying and operating its own infrastructure of 850 servers with the cost of using AWS (Amazon Web Services) to do the same job, and reckon their in-house solution will save them $400 million over three years. The per-server cost of buying and operating the machines in their datacentre is $1,500, whereas with AWS it would cost around $17,557 per equivalent server. That is a huge saving! To be fair to AWS, the level of service from their in-house datacentre may not be quite as good as that of AWS (it depends on what level of service you pay for). It seems that Ahrefs has only one datacentre, located at their offices, whereas, for business critical functions, companies would normally operate two datacentres in different locations, for higher resilience and reliability. Nevertheless, the price difference is enormous; even if they had opted for two independent datacentres, with added redundancy, the cost of the in-house solution would probably be significantly lower that the cloud based solution. The article contains links to other reports about other companies that have reduced costs by using in-house infrastructure, so the situation for Ahrefs does not seem to be a special case. There are other downsides to cloud solutions, including:
In short, although cloud solutions are trendy at the moment, they are not always the right answer; a proper cost-benefit analysis and a thorough risk analysis are essential for anyone considering using cloud solutions. |
Posted on 12th March 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
Sheryl's laptop, an ASUS built for Windows 8 and since upgraded to Windows 10, is old and underpowered, and has been getting gradually slower due to software bloat. Last year I decided to do something about it, which involved:
This made the machine significantly faster, and lasted about a week, after which the laptop became so slow as to be unusable:
I recently found out what the problem is. Microsoft is trying to force users to upgrade to Windows 11, even users like Sheryl whose hardware is not capable of running Windows 11. What happens is that the update service tries to perform the upgrade. Once the software is downloaded, the operating system tries to perform the upgrade, and it fails because the computer doesn't meet the hardware requirements. It then tries again, and again, and again, ad infinitum. The attempts to upgrade grab all the system resources (Internet bandwidth, a large amount of disc space, RAM and CPU capacity), effectively disabling other, user initiated tasks (which run at lower priority). This is effecting millions of users around the world, and begs the question: is this bad engineering or bad business ethics on the part of Microsoft? There are relatively simple ways to avoid this disruption, by better engineering, so why didn't Microsoft employ them? The fact that they didn't bother, and rolled out badly engineered software (again!) suggests bad business ethics, so the answer seems to be that this is both bad engineering and bad business ethics. Luckily, there is a solution. It is possible to manually disable the update service, but only temporarily; the operating system will restart it after a while (10 to 30 days). There is, however, a piece of free software that you can download to disable updates long-term (you can re-enable the later, if you choose). I became fed up with Microsoft's arrogance, poor security, expensive software licences, bad performance and lack of user control a long time ago, and use Linux for nearly everything. I use a Windows 7 (which you can still buy on Amazon) virtual machine for access to Outlook and MS-Office, and Linux for everything else. My Linux laptop runs:
All of the above are free. Updates are only performed with user approval, at a time that suits me. Some of of you might want to consider a change from Windoze to Linux (I use Ubuntu Linux), especially if you are suffering from system slowdown caused by Microsoft and their upgrade policy. |
Posted on 1st March 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
As this report on Sky News makes clear, the UK is not ready for the urgent and essential transition to renewable energy. It also suggests that governments are just as guilty of greenwashing as corporations. The National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is paying millions in "constraint costs", which may rise to as much as £2.5bn per year by the middle of this decade, before the necessary upgrades are made to the electricity distribution network (The National Grid). These constraint costs arise because the National Grid doesn't have the capacity to deliver the power from wind farms in Scotland and in the North Sea to where it is needed in the more densely populated south of the country, and comprise:
Scotland is not only where much of the UK's wind turbine capacity is located, but also where the fast growing sector of tidal electricity generation is based. This new source of power will also be severely undermined by the inadequacy of The National Grid. |
Posted on 27th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
This report on The Spectator highlights a worrying trend of woke-ness, cancel culture and political correctness taking over where legislation leaves off. The article focuses on the "Qurangate" case in Britain, in which 4 students were suspended, and the police were called, because they (apparently accidentally) smudged some pages in a copy of Islam's holy book. Damage to books is a normal occurrence in schools, as I am sure most readers will remember from their student days. Britain repealed its laws against blasphemy in 2008, so there is no question of the students having broken any law, and the school stated that there was no malicious intent by the kids. Nevertheless, everyone is so terrified of being accused of Islamophobia that the perpetrators were punished and publicly humiliated. For context, the UK has no written constitution (unlike the USA and Pakistan); neither does it have any laws against blasphemy. There is only one officially recognised religion in England: The Church of England (protestant); in Scotland the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised; as far as I know, other religions have no status under the law, and therefore no legal protections. How is it, then, that this "Qurangate" case generated such outrage, and why were the police involved? The answer is simple: in today's society, political correctness is the new law; offenders can be punished, and even "cancelled", if public opinion so decides. This is not the kind of society that I want to live in. Time to make a stand against this overreaching nonsense by the woke brigand! |
Posted on 25th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This story on the Daily Mail reports on the public fury about the announcement by UK power station operator Drax that it has nearly doubled its profits (from £398 million to £731 million). Not only is it clear that they are profiteering from the rise in energy prices, but their profit is only due to government bioenergy subsidies of £893 million. The subsidies are for its power plant in Selby, in North Yorkshire, which burns wood pellets to generate electricity, which it touts as renewable and environmentally friendly, despite claims by environmental groups that it is not. Drax has been accused of greenwashing with respect to the Selby power station. |
Posted on 18th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on Visual Capitalist describes a study of where the plastic pollution in our oceans comes from. Estimates are that 1 million metric tons of plastic waste reaches the ocean every year. The result is the Great Pacific Garbage Dump, a vortex of garbage three times the size of France, in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. ![]() The graphic to the right shows a visual breakdown of where all the plastic comes from. As one can see, the majority of the plastic waste is sourced from Asia: The Philippines, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, China, Thailand and Vietnam. The contribution of The Philippines dwarfs that of the rest of the world. Anyone who, like me, has worked in that part of the world will not be surprised. I have seen the grossly polluted streams and rivers flowing through cities like Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, filled with discarded plastic bottle and bags (see the photo below). ![]() One thing surprises me about the analysis: that the USA and Europe are not worse offenders. There was a time (up until 1934) when the city of New York dumped all their garbage in the ocean, but this doesn't happen anymore. The Rhine river, which empties into the North Sea is a notorious source of ocean plastic (although it pales into insignificance next to China's Yangtze). I really think that it is time for there to be an international body to measure and police ocean pollution, and to fine the worst offenders (spending the income from fines on cleanup and prevention). People (individuals, governments and corporations) need to pay for the damage they do to our planet. |
Posted on 25th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This report on the BBC is one of the worst examples of bad journalism (actually probably bad editing) that I have seen in a while. The headline reads "Ukraine vigil: Helen Mirren tears up reciting poem in London." At first I read it to mean that Helen Mirren tore up a "reciting poem". All that was needed was to use some punctuation or less abbreviated English in the headline such as "Ukraine vigil: Helen Mirren tears while up reciting poem in London", or "Ukraine vigil: Helen Mirren tears up, reciting poem in London." It is really not that hard! I have higher expectations of the BBC. |
Posted on 25th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
As a follow-up to this post, in response to the public backlash, the publishers of Roald Dahl’s books has decided to continue to publish the works with their original wording (as well as with the new PC wording), as reported by the BBC. This is a rare and welcome victory for common sense (a quality sadly lacking amongst the woke army of cancel culture). |
Posted on 22nd February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This article on Tasting Table shows that the proof-reading of articles before publication is a dying art. The article is about the differing food preferences of various US presidents, and reveals that "Lyndon Johnson was partial to lobster thermidor. And Richard Nixon, who famously banned soup from state dinners, at least liked his polenta. But Jimmy Carter " liked southern country food like collard greens, sweet corn and homemade peach ice-cream. What the article actually say, however, is that "Carter enjoyed Southern stables like collard greens and sweet corn." This makes me wonder whether he ate horse-meat, or just liked to go to the stables to pet the horses. |
Posted on 22nd February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Gun Law). |
This report on the BBC contains some pertinent and shocking statistics on gun violence in the US. Highlights (lowlights?) include:
As far as I can see, the statistics speak for themselves: gun ownership is a major cause of gun violence, and the voting public wants a change. |
Posted on 22nd February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
This report on the BBC highlights a worrying trend in political correctness. The estate and publisher of Roald Dahl's books has published politically correct versions of the author's books which remove references to things like characters' appearance and weight. This has, rightly, created a backlash, with the UK's Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, weighing in against the sanitising of the books; good for him. Where will this end? Will we see cleaned up versions of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets and books by Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Leo Tolstoy? Could the Christian Bible get an injection of woke-ism too? All of these works contain at least something that is nowadays considered offensive by some. Our literature is part of our history and culture, and tampering with it undermines our understanding of ourselves and our history. Our history is full of prejudice and cruelty, and whitewashing it seriously distorts our understanding of why things happened. I think it is time to pay much less attention to claims that some statements are offensive. Ricky Gervais had it right when he said "You have the right to offend and be offended. But you don't have the right to never be offended." He also said "I hate it when people say 'that joke was offensive'. No, you gotta say 'You found it offensive'." Life is full of offense. I am offended every time someone assumes that I am a christian; when someone in Germany, the Netherlands or France assumes that I don't at least understand the local language; and assumes that because I went to the Oktoberfest, I got drunk. We just have to shrug it off; it usually isn't meant cruelly, and even if it is, we can live with it. |
Posted on 17th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
I am including the link to this story on Finance 1st for reference. It ranks US states by education. There are not really any surprises in the article: the richer and more urban states tend to be better educated, and the poorer states and those where lots of people are involved in agriculture and coal mining tend to be more ignorant. In summary, the ranking is as follows (most educated states first):
It should be remembered that this is a relative ranking of education/ignorance, and in no way implies that residents of any state are any more or less educated, compared to any other country. Although there are plenty of examples on the Internet of how ignorant some Americans can be, I know from personal experience that this is not true of all of them. |
Posted on 18th February 2023 |
Show only this post |
This article on iMore reports that Apple's iWatch may be banned in the USA in a week or so, because it infringes a patent owned by AliveCor. According to iMore, "the patents relate to electrocardiogram technology as used in Apple's latest wearables. Apple is, of course, lobbying furiously to avoid a ban. I find the situation amusing. Apple has long been a vigorous defender of its own patents, charging huge licensing fees or having products banned, so it seems only fair that they get some of their own medicine. I hope that their lobbying is unsuccessful, and that their iWatches get banned until they reach a licensing agreement with AliveCor. |
Posted on 12th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This story on the Guardian reports that all 11 directors of Shell are being personally sued by ClientEarth over the company's climate strategy, which the claimants say is "inadequate to meet climate targets". The main issue seems to be Shell's plans to continue oil and gas exploration. The International Energy Agency (IAE) said in 2021 that "no new oil and gas projects were compatible with net zero emissions by 2050" (see here, also on the Guardian). “Doubling down [by Shell] on new oil and gas projects isn’t a credible plan – it’s a recipe for stranded assets.” Shell is not the only fossil fuel company to tone down their emissions commitments or to plan increased exploration. They are also not the only such company to be sued (see here, also on the Guardian). I see this as a healthy development. For too long companies have not had any consequences for the environmental damage (oil spills, gas leaks, oil-field gas burn-off and carbon emissions) that their businesses cause; this is a kind of false accounting, whereby the rest of us pay for the costs of the damage they cause, so that they appear to be profitable, but only because they are not paying the true costs of them doing business. They only way to make them act responsibly is to hit the directors personally in the wallet. |
Posted on 12th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Travel). |
If I ever needed another reason for not travelling on LOT Airlines, it is in this case reported on Classic FM. Polish violinist Janusz Wawrowski was returning from Vilnius, Lithuania, to Warsaw, Poland, with his Stradivarius violin, valued at €5 million. Understandably he wanted to take his violin on board as hand baggage, but the airline refused; LOT insisted that it go in the hold, and offered him the choice of complying or not flying. When Wawrowski explained what the violin was worth and his concern that it would get damaged, as justification for not putting it in the hold, one airline employee said “we’ll see if it gets damaged in the hold”. I don't think so! That violin is irreplaceable, and would likely not be fully reparable if it got damaged; it is also worth more than the total value of all the other luggage on that flight. Luckily, the traveller stuck to his guns, and instead travelled home by bus, which took 8 hours! Most air travellers know, as I do from bitter experience, that hold luggage is frequently damaged. I have had many suitcases (and other items) damaged, even ruined, by baggage handlers. Airlines know how dangerous baggage handling is, which is why laptops are always allowed as cabin baggage, so why not a Stradivarius? |
Posted on 12th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Schools). |
I am very glad that none of my children went to a school like the one described in this report on the Sun. I would have gone to war with the school. There are so many issues with the controlling attitude and overreach of the school in question. Aaron Bayley's son Levy had his coat confiscated by the school (Jesmond Park Academy), although it was obviously later returned), in the middle of an especially harsh winter, because it breaches their uniform code. The uniform rules require coats that have the school logo. Unfortunately the school-branded jacket is a thin jacket, not even water-proof, rather than a proper winter coat. It gets worse, however. The school requires that students remove their coats at the gate before entering school grounds (which means that students often get cold and wet before they are allowed to enter the building). I don't see how what students wear outside of the school grounds is any of the school's business; I was subject to a similar school rule, but that was many years ago, and such overreach by schools is not tolerable today. Add to that the fact Levy was recently hospitalised due to a bad case of 'flu, and two medical experts declared the official school-branded coat was "not suitable" for cold weather. As Aaron Bayley points out, the uniform rule is not even compliant with government guidelines (it is unclear whether these are actually regulations, or mere suggestions), which state that schools should keep branded clothing "to a minimum" and should not require parents to buy branded versions of "everyday" items like coats, so that they can be used on non-school days. It seems that Mr. Bayley is not the only parent to find the rules unfair. It looks like the school could have a parent revolution on their hands, which seems entirely appropriate. |
Posted on 8th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Tax). |
I recently saw a report on the BBC (actually not relevant to this post) about layoffs and layoff anxiety, which got me thinking more about my previous post in this thread about trickle-down economics. Layoffs primarily happen to lower paid staff, and produce trickle-down impacts in reverse: people lose their income, so they spend less, meaning other people (shop owners, online retailers, service providers such as telecommunications companies, and the like) have reduced income. Governments also have reduced tax revenue. All this means that the impact of one layoff is actually much larger than it at first appears. It also means that the cost/benefit case for government intervention to prevent layoffs is stronger than governments are willing to admit. I think it is time that some unbiased independent financial analysis was applied to the rationale from companies and governments for layoffs. |
Posted on 8th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Business Ethics). |
This BBC article reports on the announcement by British Petroleum (BP) of record profits: £23bn in 2022, double what it made the previous year. At the same time it announced that it is scaling back its commitments to reduce carbon emissions by reducing its oil and gas output. The article also reports that other energy firms experienced similar increased profits, with Shell making almost $40bn. How are these soaring profits ethical? Clearly these oil companies are profiting at the expense of consumers. Just because the price of oil has increased does not mean that profits have to increase. Add to that the walking back of the targets for carbon emission reductions, and there there is no question (at least in my mind) that these companies care nothing about the financial of their consumers and the damage that they do to the environment. Some people have been calling for governments to levy a windfall tax on oil companies, and since they can't control their greed, that seems to be the sensible option. |
Posted on 6th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
I saw this article on LBC about Rishi Sunak preparing to pull the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and it made me think of this comedy clip starring Patrick Stewart. I feel no more comment is needed. |
Posted on 5th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This very sad tale from 1962, on IFL Science provides some much needed perspective for the story, described here, of the lost radioactive capsule. The capsule recently lost in Australia since been recovered; the events in 1962 had a much more unhappy outcome. The radioactive capsule found in 1962 contained Cobalt-60 which, like the Caesium-137 capsule lost in Australia, emits beta radiation, which produces Nickel-60, which then decays by emitting gamma rays. The capsule ended up being removed from its lead container, and was eventually placed in a kitchen drawer. Within a few months the boy (10), his sister (2), his mother and grandmother all died; only the father survived because he spent a large amount of time out of the house (at work), and very little time in the kitchen where the radioactive source was stored. These events could easily have been repeated in Australia, and proper information from the press would have gone a long way to reducing the risk to the population. |
Posted on 5th February 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Blasphemy). |
This article on the BBC reports on the blocking of Wikipedia in Pakistan because of "blasphemous content". The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had demanded that the "blasphemous content" be removed; Wikipedia had removed some, but not all, and so have been blocked. I have written before in this thread about how ridiculous it has to have legislation against blasphemy, because:
![]() Wikipedia embodies a plurality of views and religions, and some of its content will inevitably be seen as blasphemous by some. Whilst Pakistan was founded as an Islamic state, its constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The table to the right shows the mix of religious beliefs in Pakistan, and shows that, despite Islam being by far the majority religion, it is not the only one in Pakistan. Monotheistic religions such as Islam and Christianity consider the beliefs of multi-theistic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and and Paganism to be inherently blasphemous, and vice versa. Does this mean that Hindus can petition to have much Islamic online material similarly blocked on the basis that it is, to them, blasphemous; I suspect not, which would mean that the laws against blasphemy are biased and flawed. When will we see an end to the hypocrisy and stupidity of legislation against blasphemy? I think it is time that the freedom from laws about blasphemy was declared an inalienable human right, and international sanctions brought against states that have them. |
Posted on 29th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This report on the BBC is another example of bad journalism that is probably due to ignorance or laziness by the journalist. The report is about the loss during transport (transportation, to some readers) of a capsule of Caesium-137 i Western Australia, but no information is included about the nature of this radioactive isotope, and thus the nature of the risk it poses, nor about why it is used in mining. The Wikipedia page about Caesium-137 explains that it emits beta radiation, and has a half-life of 30.05 years. In the process, a lot of it decays to barium-137m, which has a emits gamma rays and has a short half-life (153 seconds). Both beta and gamma radiation are highly penetrative, and dangerous at large distance from the source, which might be good to know for anyone who finds the capsule (wearing gloves or using tongs or tweezers to handle it will not protect you). Information on what exactly it is used for in mining is harder to find, but this page on the Santos company web-site briefly mentions that it is used in drilling to measure underground geology. Why couldn't the journalist make the minimal effort to find this information (it took me 3 minutes to find it using Google) and include at least some of it in the article? |
Posted on 28th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Tax). |
One of the ongoing scandals around the world is the habit of governments to keep giving tax breaks to rich people and large corporations, while lower-income workers and the unemployed are ignored. The justification by those governments is always trickle-down economics. The theory behind trickle-down economics is simple, and seems plausible: if you give people money in any way (tax cuts, grants and subsidies, paying for education or even in the form of food banks which leave people more disposable income), they will spend at least some of it. Governments get a proportion of the money back in the form of sales tax (VAT) and income tax, and most of the rest is spent again, reaping more tax income for governments and another round of people getting their share and spending, and so on, ad infinitum. The theory is often interpreted to mean that it doesn't matter to whom you give the money, and this is used to justify giving it to the rich. Trickle-down economics came to the fore under Ronald Reagan, and seemed to work [accordding to The Balance Money] (but he also ran a huge programme of government spending that stimulated the US economy, and also cut income tax for lower income workers as well as the rich). The theory has, however, since been thoroughly debunked and is rejected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) [see here on The Balance Money]. Despite the theory being debunked, governments are still applying it by giving tax cuts to the rich (see here on the BBC. Trickle-down economics is widely, and justly, blamed for the ever widening wealth gap in today's society. There is a table here on Global Finance Magazine which shows how bad things are. I recently read an article (which I can no longer find - sorry) explaining, at least in part, why trickle-down economics, as currently implemented by most governments, doesn't work: if you give rich people money, they are much less likely to spend it because they don't need it, so it gets saved and doesn't trickle down. There is a more detailed analysis of what is wrong with trickle-down economics here on Fair Economy. It is clear from this explanation what needs to change: trickle-down economics can only work if the money is given to lower income and unemployed people (those who need it and are guaranteed to spend it, thus driving the trickle down). It is time for governments to actually listen to economists and:
|
Posted on 27th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
I was pleasantly surprised by this story on the BBC, which describes the Department of Justice's (DoJ) campaign of over 6 months hacking the cyber-crime organisation Hive. The FBI managed to gain deep access to the Hive ransomware group in late July 2022. The were the able to warn victims of impending attacks. They also gave more than 300 decryption keys to victims, saving them more than $130m. The US DoJ said it had taken down Hive's websites and communication networks, working with other national police forces including in Germany and the Netherlands. We need more of this proactivity. |
Posted on 27th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
Boeing is in court in the USA over the 737 Max crashes, as reported by the BBC. The suit brought by relatives of of people killed in the crashes alleges fraud by the aircraft manufacturer, and of course Boeing denies this. I have written extensively on the subject of the 737 Max crashes and the safety of the aircraft (see here), and have made my opinion (based on my experience in the avionics industry and work on other safety-critical systems) clear: Boeing mislead the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) about the aircraft's safety in a way that amounts to fraud. Boeing previously avoided a trial on this issue by agreeing to pay $2.5bn, but that appears to have been a fine rather than compensation. It is time for the company to pay up! Maybe they will then learn the lessons, for example what the definition of a safety-critical system is. |
Posted on 27th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Entitlement). |
This report on the BBC really demonstrates how messed up the world is nowadays. ![]() In 1938 a Jewish family living in Germany sold a painting (Woman Ironing) to pay for their escape from Nazi Germany. The painting is now in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The heirs of the Adler family want the painting back; they say that the family were forced to sell it, which they feel was unfair. I am sorry, but Karl and Rosi Adler chose to sell the painting. The heirs claim that it was sold at below market value (which seems to be true, but not by a huge amount), so I don't see why they feel entitled to have it returned. I understand that the family only sold it because of the Nazi persecution of Jews, and I have sympathy with their plight, but the sale probably saved their lives; the loss of the painting seems a small price to pay for that. The Picasso was not stolen, confiscated or looted, but voluntarily sold by the owners. I wonder where this tide of entitlement will end. Will someone who lost their job sue for the return of the car that they sold in order to pay their rent and grocery bills? Apparently some people missed the memo about choices and consequences. Do people really want to live their whole lives swaddled in cotton wool, or only when it suits them? |
Posted on 1st October 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Entitlement). |
The disease of entitlement is reaching epidemic proportions. The cases mentioned below were all on airlines, but we meet entitled people making unreasonable demands in all situations. In this report on The Gate a first class passenger is outraged that the cabin crew serve other passengers their meals, because she is allergic to nuts. The report makes it clear that expert opinion is that she would not be at risk from other passengers eating nuts in her vicinity, but she honestly expected the airline (American Airlines) to accommodate her request, and because they refused "She is never flying AA again because she says all other airlines honor her request.” Does her expectation extend to a type-1 diabetic not being fed, because of her paranoia about her nut allergy, when that could put the diabetic's life at risk? Recently there has been a rash of stories about passengers demanding that other passengers swap seats so that, for example, the family could sit together, for example: The good thing, in all of these examples, is that the request was refused, and social media is backing that refusal. I understand that air travel is difficult with young children, and if kids can't sit with their parents, everyone's flight can be spoiled. Nevertheless, the bottom line for me is "choices and consequences": these people made the choice to have children, to fly with their children, to not check-in early enough to get seated together and to not pay the fee to choose their seats; there are consequences from all of these choices, and those consequences should not be on fellow passengers. Other symptoms of entitlement on flights include "manspreading" (reported here on Live And Let's Fly), failure to share armrests and selfish reclining of seat-backs. Most of us have experienced examples of these. We all need to stand against the spread of these entitled attitudes. |
Posted on 25th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
In the UK, the NHS (National Health Service) continues to collapse due to lack of funding and understaffing. This article on Lad Bible reports on a disgraceful case in which a young girl was incorrectly diagnosed and discharged from hospital, only to be readmitted a few hours later. She had meningitis and sepsis, which can be treated (if caught early enough - her first visit to hospital was early enough) with antibiotics, which had by then become so severe that she had to have her arms and legs amputated. The NHS has admitted liability for the wrong diagnosis and subsequent delayed treatment, and has agreed to a settlement of about £39 million. In the USA the settlement would probably have been much higher. I don't feel that £39 million is enough to compensate the poor girl for such life altering and avoidable consequences. |
Posted on 27th September 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
For a change, rather than complaining or criticising, I am making a recommendation. Yesterday I returned home from a week in hospital: the Isar Klinikum. I was there for another operation on my back to repair two prolapsed lumbar discs. I had a similar operation in 2020, but after that I managed to damage my back again (moving a washing machine), so I needed another operation. My surgeon was again the head of the spinal department, Dr. Rothörl. Immediately after the operation I found that the pain in my left leg was gone, but, of course, I had pain from the incision in my back, and needed frequent intravenous pain medication (morphine). The nurses responsible for administering the morphine had other ideas about how often I should have it. In the end, Dr. Rothörl overruled them, and I was able to get my meds. Talking to other patients, I discovered that Dr. Rothörl had done the same for most of them, fighting on behalf of his patients to get them what they needed. He also intervened on other issues of poor treatment and even non-medical services. The man is a hero to all his patients. The Isar Klinikum is so much better than the Rechts der Isar where I was treated for high blood pressure and for a stroke:
Dr. Rothörl, in particular, is very attentive (he does rounds twice a day - at the Rechts der Isar it is once per day). He also meets my requirements for a good doctor:
I can't recommend Dr. Rothörl and the Isar Klinikum enough. |
Posted on 21st January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
The difference between energy and power seems to be a particular blind spot for journalists, as evidenced by this article on Android Authority. The writer states that the BLUETTI EP900 home backup power station stores 9000W (normally written as 9KW) of energy, but that is a measure of power, not energy. There is no excuse for this mistake; he includes the maker's specification table which has the correct units for power: 9.9kWh if you buy 2 battery modules. Don't get me wrong: the BLUETTI EP900 home backup power station is an impressive device, but I expect a review of it to be written by someone who understands the subject matter, which the author clearly doesn't. |
Posted on 21st January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
If you have wondered why diseases seem to be getting worse, part of the reason may lie with climate change, according to this report from the World Economic Forum. ![]() The main conclusions are summarised in the table to the right. We are living with the consequences of this:
As is clear from the table, climate change is not the only thing driving these changes, but it is an important contributor. We should therefore be prepared to have more disease in our lives in future. We should also expect to pay higher taxes for controlling and preventing disease from now on. |
Posted on 21st January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
Sadly, I am not even slightly surprised by this report by The Guardian. Analysis reveals that 94% of the carbon offsets provided by by Verra are worthless, and may even add to global warming. Verra is a non-profit organisation with a multi-million dollar turnover. Verra's list of clients is extensive, and includes some very high profile corporations (Disney, Shell and Gucci among others), so those companies' claims of carbon neutrality can be consigned to the toilet in the light of this analysis. Greta Thunberg has been warning the world about corporate greenwashing for quite some time, and now we have the proof (if common sense didn't bring you to this conclusion already). |
Posted on 17th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This article on ZDNet reports that Microsoft has announced that it has created an artificial intelligence system that only needs a 3 second recording "of you saying something in order to fake longer sentences and perhaps large speeches that weren't made by you, but sound pretty much like you". I expect that other technology companies will quickly match Microsoft's achievement. I don't see this as a good development; we can look forward to a whole world of trouble once this technology becomes widely available. We already have deep-fake videos, and now we will have deep-fake audio. |
Posted on 17th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on the BBC gives me some hope that we might yet save our planet. China's population fell by 850,000 from 2021 to 2022; the first fall in 60 years. Many of the world's environmental problems are caused, directly or indirectly, by excessive population, and this has traditionally been driven mainly by two nations: China and India, both of whom are in the process of widespread industrialisation, which is increasing the environmental damage. The fact that China has now changed from population growth to population reduction is what gives me hope. What we now need is for India to do the same. |
Posted on 11th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Motor City reminded me of something that I am sure I am not the only one to have noticed. A new prototype tyre (tire, to any American readers) from Goodyear is made from 90% sustainable materials. This is just like the old days, when tyres were made from rubber. We should, of course, take Goodyear's claims of sustainability with a large dose of salt, because large corporations are notorious for green-washing, but it sounds like a positive development. We see the the same trend in packaging, with moves away from plastic and a return to paper, metal and glass (all of which are 100% recyclable, and can thus be sustainable). We seem to be going full circle, and not before time. |
Posted on 11th January 2023 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This is for any climate change deniers out there. This article on CNN describes a new report which estimates the costs of major extreme weather events in the USA over the last 7 years. The total comes to more than 1 trillion dollars. The estimate covers "tornadoes, extreme heat and cold, deadly flooding and hurricanes and a climate change-fueled drought in the West", but only for weather events that caused damage of at least 1 billion dollars. Including the costs of less severe but more frequent events will clearly push the total even higher. According to this report on Axios, the past 8 years were the hottest on record. The USA is not even the worst affected by climate change, as this BBC report explains; Europe and the polar regions bore the brunt of global warming in 2022. |
Posted on 24th December 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on the Express reports on the recently announced decision by the UK government to eliminate virtually all the tax advantages of owning an electric vehicle. From April 2025 EV owners will pay Vehicle Excise Duty; most will also pay the "expensive car supplement". These changes will make EVs as expensive to run as petrol (gasoline) powered vehicles. Excuse me, but aren't governments around the world supposed to be working to reduce the pollution that causes climate change (and also adversely affects people's health) by encouraging more environmentally friendly life-styles? That aim does not seem to fit with this decision to tax EVs more. |
Posted on 24th December 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Business Ethics). |
Back in 2014 I wrote, in this post, about Mark Carney's call for more ethics in business. Since then he has left his role as head of the Bank of England, and is now UN Climate envoy. Now, as reported by the BBC, it has emerged that his firm sold farms in Brazil linked to deforestation claims. Not only does this go against his urging for more ethics in business, but is completely at odds with his role as UN Climate Envoy. Time to stop just talking about business ethics, and actually act ethically, Mr. Carney. |
Posted on 12th December 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
This article on Food & Wine reports on predictions by Sam Kass, a former White House chef. I wouldn't normally rate a White House chef as an expert on this subject, but he was also the White House's first-ever senior adviser on nutrition, and he quotes some sources for his predictions that I do consider expert. These experts are saying that there could be significant shortages of:
These crops are all under threat by climate change. I can add to the above list, with:
There is not a single item listed above that I do not consume, and shortages and the resulting price rises will impact my diet, my quality of life and my bank balance. I imagine that most readers will be similarly affected. |
Posted on 10th December 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cryptocurrency). |
According to this report on Tech Monitor, a growing number of UK High Street banks are banning their customers from investing in cryptocurrencies. The table in the article shows that some UK banks do still support their customers buying crypto, a growing list now consider it to be to risky. I have always said that crypto was nothing more than a bubble; now, with the collapse due to fraud of the FTX crypto exchange (summarised here by The New York Times), it seems that many banks agree with me. |
Posted on 28th November 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
There have been a number of significant hacking breaches is the last few weeks. This article on Security Affairs reports on a data breach (or multiple breaches - the report is a little confusing in this respect) at Twitter that has resulted in the data (including phone numbers and email addresses) of 5.4 million users being made available online. An even larger breach has been suffered by WhatsApp, with the user data (in this case, phone numbers) of nearly half a billion (487 million, 25% of the total) users accessed, as reported by Business Standard: the data of 32 million users from the US, 11 million from the UK, 45 million from Egypt, 35 million from Italy, 29 million from Saudi Arabia, 20 million from France, 20 million from Turkey, 10 million from Russia (10 mn) and 6 million from India. At the moment this is only a risk, since the data has not yet been made available online, but that is probably only a matter of time. The article also pointed out that "Last year, information about more than 500 million users of Facebook, another Meta-owned company, was offered online for free. In 2019, data of 419 million Facebook and 49 million Instagram users were exposed. In the same year, it had faced another breach leaving data of 267 million users exposed." Finally (for now), this piece from Bleeping Computer reports on the disclosure by Dropbox (whose software provides file storage and sharing, used by 700 million users) that 130 of their GitHub code repositories. Dropbox said "To date, our investigation has found that the code accessed by this threat actor contained some credentials — primarily, API keys — used by Dropbox developers," which opens up the possibility that Dropbox users' data (which is supposed to be secure) could, in future be accessed by the hackers. All this goes to show that companies (Twitter, Facebook/Instagram and WhatsApp) are consistently unable to keep the data of their users secure. |
Posted on 28th November 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
I find the decisions made by the German government, reported by Energy Voice, to be bizarre in the extreme. German delegates have just returned from COP27; did they sleep through the whole event? The new government plan is clearly designed to bring in some much needed cash to fund its consumer aid measures, which are intended to offset some of the impact on ordinary citizens of the huge rises in energy prices, but the results of this badly thought out plan will be bad for consumers and for the environment. Taxing the windfall profits of energy companies so heavily will do nothing to reduce energy prices for consumers, and could indeed push them even higher. Directly regulating the price of energy would be much more effective at protecting consumers from price rises, and not have the inefficiencies inherent in taking money out with taxes and then paying it out again as consumer subsidies. Not only consumers, but also industry would benefit from effective measures to limit energy prices. Looking at their plan's from an environmental perspective, the penalties and incentives simply seem wrong. True, the burning of lignite, the most polluting type of coal, to generate electricity will be most heavily penalised (earnings above €82 per megawatt), but oil-based generation will be much less heavily penalised (earnings above €280 per megawatt), while solar, wind and nuclear generation will be taxed on earnings above €130 per megawatt. Where is the incentive to invest in clean energy, and why is oil being given a pass? The German government needs to rethink this half-arsed plan. |
Posted on 12th November 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Visas And Residence.). |
Quite a few Brits must be rather annoyed after reading this report on EuroNews. Apparently, Spain has decided that it wants to allow people from the UK to stay indefinitely, rather than be limited to 90 days, as it is at the moment, although it needs permission from the EU to change this rule. There were quite a lot of Brits who moved to Spain when the UK was part of the EU, for retirement or simply for a better lifestyle. Some of them didn't apply for permanent residence in Spain, and after Brexit were forced to leave, in many cases having to sell their property there. Now, however, there is the prospect that they can again live in Spain, and they must be asking why the Spanish government didn't change the visa rules for Brits sooner, so that they didn't have to move and sell up. Many may decide to move back to Spain once the rule has been changed, but some will probably be deterred by the cost of moving and buying property again. Property prices in Spain took a bit of a dive because of the exodus of Brits, and buying again now will be more expensive than the prices they got when they sold. |
Posted on 12th November 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
Wow! KFC has "accidentally" sent a promotional message to customers in Germany, urging them to commemorate Kristallnacht with cheesy chicken, according to this report on the BBC. "The Nazi-led series of attacks in the country in 1938 left more than 90 people dead, and destroyed Jewish-owned businesses and places of worship. It is widely seen as the beginning of the Holocaust." People, especially Jews, are understandably outraged, and KFC's apology is not impressing anyone. Given the broad and stringent legislation against Nazis and Nazi symbols in Germany, it is even possible that KFC could be fined for their mistake. I assume that this is down to basic ignorance by staff in KFC's marketing department; someone probably found Kristallnacht in a German calendar, didn't know what it was, and decided to use it as the basis of a marketing promotion. Who knew that Americans were so ignorant about the world outside their borders (this is sarcasm, in case you weren't sure). |
Posted on 12th November 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on the BBC demonstrates that you cannot trust fossil fuel companies. It turns out that BP has been flaring massive amounts of gas from an oil field that it co-manages in Iraq. The gas is toxic, and the burnt gas causes leukemia. Also, the CO2 emissions, and the leak of any incompletely burnt gas, contribute massively to global warming. BP has not been declaring their gas flaring activities, leading to underestimates of greenhouse gas emissions. The BBC has exposed their disgraceful actions. In a similar vein, this article on Quartz reports on the massive number of fossil fuel company lobbyists at the COP27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the highest number ever, twice as many as the number of indigenous peoples' delegates, and more than any in any nation's delegation except one. It is obvious that the fossil fuel companies are there to lobby against any measures that would limit their profits, which means they are working against the very purpose of the COP27 conference. Added to their lobbying activities at COP27 is the fact that many politicians, primarily in the US, but also in other nations, are financially supported and heavily influenced by fossil fuel companies. It will be an uphill struggle to save the planet against this undue influence on the political process to stop and reverse global warming. I believe that, at the very least, fossil fuel company lobbyists should be barred from future climate conferences. |
Posted on 29th September 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Jobs). |
This article on the BBC reports on how digital literacy has become a requirement for the majority of jobs. The thing that surprises me about the article is how the author, Alex Christian, seems to be so shocked by the facts. Computers are now everywhere, from office jobs where skills in using word processors and spreadsheets are essential, to car mechanics using diagnostic computers, to the operators of checkout tills (now all computer-based), to the people restocking supermarket shelves. The pervasiveness of computers didn't happen overnight, so why is the author surprised? There are some figures in the article: " By 2019, a UK government report showed digital skills were required in at least 82% of online advertised vacancies." The actual figure may well be higher, since, for some jobs, the need for digital literacy is implicit, and therefore not always explicitly stated in the advert. Computers make most jobs more efficient and more accurate, and free workers from labour intensive and boring tasks, so I see the use of computers as a good thing, especially since many younger people can't do basic mental arithmetic anymore. Schools are clearly to blame for the lack of digital literacy amongst the workforce. There is no consistent and concerted effort to teach students digital literacy. Where computer skills are taught at schools, they are often focused on programming, rather than how to use a spreadsheet, a database or an Internet search engine, so they do not prepare the students for work. There is an irony here: as computers become more prevalent at home, at work and at school, many things including school work become easier, which means students learn less, and leave school with fewer of the skills they need to use computers at work and in private life. This just puts more pressure on the people developing and buying computer systems to make them smarter, so that dumber people can use them. The end of that road is workplaces with almost no human staff; we will have dumbed ourselves out of our jobs. |
Posted on 2nd October 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Jobs). |
This article on Tech.co reports on how Microsoft is telling companies that they should “re-recruit” and "re-onboard" employees to prevent them from job-hopping and quiet quitting. At first glance it appears that Microsoft are suggesting that staff be fired and then re-employed (a technique being increasingly used to reduce salaries and change contracts), but, in fact, that is not what is being suggested. The idea is that, for staff to be effective and motivated, especially in the era of remote and hybrid work, they need their skills boosted with more training. Whilst this, in principle, sounds OK, it shows that Microsoft does not really understand staff motivation. There is a well established theory of staff motivation, unfortunately not widely applied, which divides motivating factors into positive and negative motivators. Positive motivators are things that are essential for workers to do their jobs: adequate salary, an office (with adequate heating/air-conditioning), a computer or other work tools and the necessary training to do the job. Negative motivators are not things that will demotivate staff if they are absent, but rather non-essential things that will not motivate staff unless all the positive motivators are satisfied: a break room, an office newsletter, work social events and team-building activities. A company car is only a positive motivator in jobs where a car is essential, like travelling salesmen and civil engineers. Companies are wasting their money if they spend on negative motivators without first investing in all the positive motivators. Job-specific training is generally classified as a positive motivator, when given at the start of employment, because it is usually essentially for the job. When given later, however, it is a negative motivator, because the employee clearly knows how to do the job, having already been doing it. Just because an employer labels it “re-recruiting” or "re-onboarding" does not change the employees' perception of the training as non-essential. What all this means is that the strategy of branding retraining as “re-recruiting” or "re-onboarding" will not motivate staff, which is what Microsoft believes it will do. It is time for Microsoft managers to go back to school themselves, before mandating it for staff. |
Posted on 23rd October 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Excellent Photos). |
I recently found the photo below (in an article on BGR.com). It is actually an Adobe Stock photo. I find the photo to be fantastic: well composed, made with perfect timing and superb colours. ![]() |
Posted on 23rd October 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
Hot on the heels of my recent post (here) about the potential for wars over water comes this article on The Guardian, which reports on a study showing that over 80% of US waterways are polluted with PFAS (a class of "forever chemicals"). PFAS are called forever chemicals because they are not biodegradable (they last forever in the environment); they are also generally toxic. You almost certainly have PFAS in your home, in the form of Teflon coating on non-stick pans and other cook-ware. The fact that waterways are polluted with PFAS does not necessarily mean that drinking water is polluted, but other studies (see the links in The Guardian article) have shown that drinking water is indeed polluted in the majority of cases. The other thing to bear in mind is the widespread culture of hunting and fishing (and even of eating roadkill) in the US, meaning that even if your drinking water is not polluted, what you eat may well be (wildlife drinks unfiltered water). The problem is manifold, and includes:
Maybe it is time for the USA to take environmental protection a little more seriously. Just because you have more wilderness per capita than Europe does not mean that that wilderness can't be polluted, if you don't look after it. |
Posted on 23th October 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
Commercial fishermen always complain about reduced catches whenever marine reserves are established; they make the same complaints whenever fish quotas are introduced. This report on the BBC shows that the opposite is true. The Papahãnaumokuãkea Marine National Monument in Hawaii, a vast marine reserve ("almost four times the size of California"), was established in 2006, and already, after only 6 years, fish stocks in neighbouring waters have increased: "catch rates for yellowfin tuna had increased by 54%, bigeye tuna by 12% and all fish species combined by 8%". This shows that establishing marine reserves works to increase fish stocks and catch sizes, and quickly. Maybe there is hope that we can save the oceans, if we act now. |
Posted on 29th September 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on World Crunch describes the tensions and fights now erupting in Mongolia because of the lack of water. I sense many readers thinking "Oh. Mongolia. That doesn't effect me." Wrong! it might not effect you yet, but fighting, even full blown wars, over water (and land and other resources in short supply) are coming to us all. Just look around the world - shortages and disputes all over:
The causes of these water shortages are many:
Most of these causes are not being addressed, and some will get worse over time. Some, however, could be addressed, for example:
So, we have shortages of water in many places, in many cases with neighbouring areas/nations having more than sufficient water. How bad do you think it will have to get before people are prepared to fight to have drinking, washing and irrigation water? In Mongolia shepherds are already fighting over water for their livestock. What if Mexico decided to bomb Hoover Dam to get the Colorado river flowing properly? What if Egypt invaded Ethiopia to increase the flow in the Nile? What kind of pressure might the USA exert on Canada to get them to share their water? None of these scenarios are inconceivable; once the need is dire enough, they will happen. The water wars are coming. |
Posted on 11th September 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on One Green Planet reports on a study, based on samples taken from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 2019, which shows that more than a quarter of the garbage is plastic from fishing gear: oyster spacers, eel traps, lobster, and fish tags, plastic floats and buoys. Two thirds of the plastic items were made in Japan or China. About 6.5% were from the United States, 5.6% from Taiwan, and 4.7% came from Canada. Plastic was ten times more likely to originate from fishing activities than from land-based ones. Isn't it time that fishing fleets were properly regulated and policed to stamp out the pollution and the overfishing that is rife in the industry? If we don't. we will destroy the marine ecosystems in a very short time, and seafood will become too polluted to be safe to eat. |
Posted on 11th September 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on Quartz describes the latest data from the International Energy Agency, which shows that the clean energy sector now provides "56% of total energy sector employment", which is more than those employed in "producing, transporting, and burning fossil fuels". Maybe politicians will now stop using the claim of protecting employment as an excuse to resist environmental initiatives intended to stop climate change (although I don't have high hopes). |
Posted on 10th September 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
![]() I took this photo whilst on a recent shopping trip. It demonstrates the arrogance of the German police, at least when it comes to parking. The police car is parked on the pavement, almost completely blocking the footpath (although the cycle-path was left clear). A disabled man on an electric mobility tricycle had just gone by going onto the very busy cycle-path. I can understand that there might be a case for such selfish parking in the case of an emergency, but the cop was not even parked there on police business; he was posting a parcel (a return of an online purchase) which was almost certainly a private errand, and most certainly not an emergency. Note that the photo does not include the police officer, since it is illegal in Germany to photograph or video record police in the execution of their duties (not that he was executing his duties, but I would rather not fight that out in court). This kind of arrogant and selfish parking by police is very common here in Germany. I have often seen police vehicles parked at traffic accidents and at traffic stops in ways that block other traffic and create hazards for other motorists. This is especially dangerous at the sites of accidents, where that part of the road is already demonstrably dangerous, and where their dangerous parking only exacerbates the danger. It really seems that many German police officers feel that they are above the law. I know that, if I parked on the pavement like that, I would get a ticket in short order. |
Posted on 30th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
I am livid after reading this report on Metro. It seems that we cannot use some words in the English language without being blamed for being offensive, because there are other meanings for those words. English, and indeed all languages, have words that have multiple meanings (which is a rich source of humour), but now we can't use the word in its original meaning because there now exist alternative meanings? This is nonsense! The report on Metro is about a pub in called "The Black Bitch" in Linlithgow, Scotland. The brewery has applied to change the name because "it is offensive". The pub is named to commemorate a famous local dog, a female greyhound with a black coat; there is even a statue of said dog in the town. The name "The Black Bitch" is perfectly correct and accurately descriptive, and is not insulting to anyone; local people seem to agree, and in a town of 13,000 inhabitants 11,000 have signed a petition to stop the name change. The natives of Linlithgow are proud to be known as “Black Bitches”. It is clear from the pub sign, which depicts a black dog, that the name refers to a black female dog. The brewery, Greene King, has previously changed the names of several pubs because of supposed racism, including three pubs called "The Black Boy" and one called "The Black’s Head"; it seems that they have a particular problem with the word black. They are seeing prejudice where none exists. Where will this cult of woke-ism and political correctness end? Soon we may no longer be able to use:
Tart to refer to a pie without a pastry lid, because it can also mean a prostitute; Pig or hog to refer to a swine, because it can also mean someone who is greedy; Knob to refer to a handle or control device, because it can also mean a penis; Prick to refer to a mark or hole made by a pointed instrument, because it can also mean a penis; Because of the huge differences in how English is used in different parts of the world, there terms that are considered non-PC is some regions, but are standard, correct, perfectly PC, and even official in others. The obvious example are "black" and "coloured", which in South Africa respectively mean African, and Indian/Pakistani or mixed race, but in America are considered non-PC. Things used to be very different. In the UK, the word Tory is often used to refer to the member or supporter of the Conservative Party, but originally it was an insulting name applied to that party, meaning outlaw or robber. I don't hear of any movement to stamp out the use of this once insulting nickname. Thankfully, political correctness is not taking hold in Germany. Nouns which refer to people are still used in male and female forms: Artz and Ärtzin (doctor), Assistent and Assistentin, etc. There is no hesitance in using the word Schwarz (black) to refer to people. I hope that doesn't change. Unfortunately, it is too late for the English language. Words that are tainted by any hint of prejudice cannot safely be used without a backlash and the risk of "cancellation". People are far more worried about political correctness than the use of proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. |
Posted on 20th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
This report on DW.com (Deutsche Welle) shows just how seriously Nazi symbols and the like are taken here in Germany. I wrote previously in this thread (here) about the fact that Nazi symbols are banned in many countries. In German (and Austria) that includes Nazi salutes. Well, now, a security steward at the European Athletics Championships in Munich has been arrested for making the Nazi salute. If you are planning to come to Germany for a visit, don't make the salute while here, and if you are one of those strange people who have a swastika tattoo, cover it. Otherwise you may be arrested and fined. |
Posted on 17th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Medical News Today reports on a study which shows that climate change is making pathogenic diseases more virulent. If you had been wondering why pandemics seem more common recently, and why dangerous diseases are spreading further, there is your answer. Since climate change is still going on and getting worse, diseases like Covid-19, monkeypox, Zika, measles, TB, Polio, Ebola and malaria, and diseases yet to come, can be expected to continue to get worse. |
Posted on 17th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on U.S. News is extremely worrying. Despite the heatwaves are droughts being suffered by so many Americans at the moment, the gradual increase in the severity of hurricanes and the length of the hurricanes season, and the constant improvement in the scientific data on climate change and its causes, fewer Americans are currently worried about climate change than 3 years ago. These people must be living under rocks, to have missed all that news. ![]() Since the USA is the nation most responsible for global warming, as reported by Investopdeia, any solution will need to get the USA on board. That will be hard. since most Americans are not sufficiently worried about it, do not believe that their personal choices affect the climate and feel that their government is responsible for fixing any problems rather than them personally. |
Posted on 17th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
Why can't people put punctuation in headlines? It is as if they think that there is some unwritten rule for headlines that punctuation is not allowed. This article on the BBC carries the headline "Ukraine war round-up: Strike on Wagner HQ and Russia to increase ties with North Korea." It leaves the reader wondering why attacks on the HQ in Ukraine of the Wagner group of Russian mercenaries, and also on Russia, would increase ties with North Korea. It just needs a comma to say what was intended: "... Strike on Wagner HQ, and Russia to increase ties with North Korea." |
Posted on 15th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Service). |
"The World's Favourite Airline" used to be BA's advertising slogan (it wasn't justified or true even back then), but now it seems to be "To fly, to serve." This story on This Is Money shows that customer service is most definitely not part of BA's culture or business model. A couple were flying first class back from a vacation in Mauritius to London, via Johannesburg. The flight was with BA, and their partner airline, Comair. Their bags did not make the flight, and when the bags arrived 3 days later, items to the value of £3,000 (a MacBook Pro laptop, various items of jewellery, two pairs of sunglasses and a first aid box containing some medication) were missing. BA declined to compensate them. The letter in the story lists a number of complaints:
The author of the letter states that he had "been an extremely loyal BA customer for many years, spending tens of thousands of pounds with the company, and [had] been a shareholder for 25 years." He says that he won't use the airline again. The most obvious question is why? I personally have been refusing to fly BA since the dreadful incident in 2007 (see here). BA states that valuable items such as laptops and jewellery should not be put in hold-luggage, and as a frequent flier I agree; if things do not get stolen, they may be damaged. This is most especially true when flying via Johannesburg, where theft from luggage is an epidemic. Even so, I find it bizarre that BA would take zero responsibility, considering that these were first class passengers (where the cost of the tickets is enough to defray the costs of some compensation). The other complaints are also incomprehensible, and put the lie to BA's claims to be service oriented. I hope people reading about this incident have the good sense to also boycott British Airways. |
Posted on 15th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
This BBC report is a really bad advertisement for the company involved, Advanced. Advanced, which provides digital IT services to the NHS (UK National Health Service), has been hit by a ransomware attack. There is a chance (not yet confirmed) that NHS data including patient data, has been stolen in the attack. Although ransomware attacks do not usually steal data, the security vulnerabilities that allowed the ransomware attack could also be used by hacker organisations wanting to steal data. The NHS relies on all of its suppliers of services and products to ensure the security and reliability of its services and data, and it only takes one weak link in the chain to compromise potentially everything. This is not only very bad publicity for Advanced, but also (as if we needed any more proof - governments and their agencies are notorious for their poor protection of sensitive data) shows that the NHS is not taking cybersecurity seriously. Advance should be better protected, and the NHS have clearly failed in their duty of due diligence, which is something that needs to happen not only when suppliers are selected, but also continuously thereafter. |
Posted on 15th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Service). |
According to this report on Triple Pundit, customers are punishing the 'big-five' banks in the UK for their poor service. 500,000 customers have left the 'big-five' banks, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Santander, and moved their business to smaller more ethical ethical banks, as a result of the 'Move Your Money UK' campaign. Big UK banks are notorious for their poor service (an example here), and now they are paying the price. Excellent! |
Posted on 14th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Service). |
This story on City A.M. highlights the plight of Britons living in the EU who, as a result of Brexit, are about to have their British bank accounts summarily closed. The banks currently closing the bank accounts include Barclays, Halifax and Lloyd's. The reason for the closures is that, after Brexit, UK banks need special legal permissions to service EU residents, for each EU country individually; the grace period for gaining these permissions is about to close. These banks must have decided that the bureaucratic overhead of gaining the necessary permissions exceeds the benefits of keeping those customers. Not only is this another unexpected "benefit" of Brexit, but also a major inconvenience for the effected customers:
If they are operating a UK company, which some do, they will now have to have any invoices paid into an EU account; an inconvenience at both ends of the transactions, which may result in them losing customers. If they are paying UK income tax, which many must, as well as paying tax in their country of residence, there are also new complications. I find it bizarre that these banks are not prepared to do the paperwork to be able to service customers with addresses in the EU. My Swiss bank has no issues with me living in Germany (Switzerland is not in the EU, and needs the same permissions that the UK banks need), and my fiancée's US bank also has no problem with her living in Germany (although one of her American credit card providers does have a problem with it). I used to think that the UK was more service oriented than much of continental Europe; it seems that I was wrong. |
Posted on 14th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on the BBC shows why I have such low hopes for us saving our planet. The story reports on how "Climate activists in southern France have filled golf course holes with cement to protest against the exemption of golf greens from water bans amid the country's severe drought." Remember that France is in the grips of a severe water crisis (like most of Europe), to the extent that more than 100 communities are having water provided by trucks. I applaud the protesters' action. Amid this crisis the government has granted golf courses (apparently all of them) exemptions from the bans on watering. Apparently, the government considers golf greens more important than people, fish, aquatic birds and other wildlife. What this really shows is that money is what matters to governments. In the face of such blatant bias, there is no chance that essential environmental regulations will succeed. |
Posted on 13the August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
In this report on The Mirror, a woman describes her dreadful experience at a NHS (National Health Service) A&E (Accident and Emergency) department. The poor lady waited more than 15 hours for treatment (waiting times of over 17 hours were being predicted by staff at the A&E). In the end, she decided that "may as well have been in pain in bed at home", and went home. Such an occurrence might perhaps be forgiven if it was an isolated case, but it is not. The whole concept of an emergency department is for dealing with emergencies: situations that require urgent treatment. Clearly, in this case, that department was not able to fulfill their purpose. Hospitals blame staff shortages as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that seems a cop-out. Britain's NHS was once a great source of pride for Britons. That pride no longer seems to have any basis in fact. Other countries also have increased waiting times in their emergency departments; here in Germany, for example (I know this from personal experience), but the problem is not only with waiting times, as evidenced by a recent message from a friend. He had to cut short a trip to Germany in December last year, and rush home to Britain to his wife, because she had been diagnosed with bladder cancer (because of blood in her urine). It turned out that cancer was a misdiagnosis, but they have spent 8 months and lots of their own money confirming this, because none of the doctors seem to care. She still has blood in her urine, and they still don't know why, so there will be more worry and expense for them over the coming months. So, long waiting times and poor doctoring: the NHS needs drastic improvement, and a major injection of funds, to fix the problems, which probably won't happen. Anyone who lives in Britain will probably remember the promises by Boris Johnson (Prime Minister at the time) that leaving the EU would allow the UK government to put £350 million per week into the NHS. Clearly the NHS saw none of that money; those promises were nothing more than propaganda. |
Posted on 13th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on the BBC highlights an all too common problem relating to wildlife. Authorities in Norway say "Freya the walrus could be put down unless public back off." People are getting too close to the walrus, and are getting attacked. What happens over and over again is that humans encroach on wild animals habitats, either by walking in the woods or going to the beach, or by building habitations and planting crops where wild animals live. If anyone challenges such encroachment, answers are along the lines of "I am not forcing the animals to move; they are welcome to be there too." Such statements are patently nonsense, because, as soon as there is a clash of interests (people getting attacked by walruses or bears, or deer or rabbits eating someone's crops), it is always the animals that have to give way, or worse still, be culled. Wild animals have a perfect right to be in their natural habitats, and if humans encroach, it is the humans who should get out of the way. There is an ever growing list of species which are either already extinct, or under threat, and we cannot afford to wipe out any more. It is time that public policy towards wild animals was changed to take into account these changed realities. |
Posted on 7th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
Whilst I am in no sense an apologist for Kevin Spacey, I feel that the court case reported on by the BBC is rather unfair on him. Mr. Spacey was the star of the hit TV show "House of Cards" when the press found out about his various sexual misdemeanors. As a result, the producers of the show decided that they had to remove him from the show (probably a good call). On Thursday a court in Los Angeles awarded MRC (the production company) $31m for the costs of that removal. Kevin Spacey began his illegal and inappropriate activities before he signed the contract with MRC. Although knowledge of this was not at that time in the public domain, it was generally privately known (or at least suspected) in the industry, so MRC got into the contract with there eyes open; they took a calculated risk, but when it all turned to doggy dos, they demanded compensation. That is not how the law is meant to work. If there is genuinely unknown and undisclosed information when a contract is signed, one can expect to be compensated, but when the issues are known (even if not provable at the time), the risk belongs to the party that suffered the loss. MRC was making lots of money from "House of Cards", and hoped that would continue; they gambled, and lost, and should bear the costs themselves. This case sets a dangerous precedent for future compensation cases. |
Posted on 7th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Euro News reports on the water shortages striking across Europe. The culprit seems to be the heatwave. In France, more than 100 municipalities short of drinking water, and trucks are being used to take them water. In Italy, "rice production in the river Po Valley is under severe threat as drought and hot weather continue to cause paddy fields to completely dry up and become salty from use of aquifers." The effects of the salt could last for years. On Wednesday The Netherlands declared an official water shortage, after already having imposed limits on agriculture and shipping. The Netherlands is the world's second-largest agricultural exporter, so there could be food shortages as a result (as if there weren't already food shortages). In Germany, the upper reaches of the Rhine river are drying up, according to this report on Business Insider, and the middle reaches (heavily used for goods transport) have such low water levels that ships are running at 25% capacity. There is concern about cooling water for power stations (due to heating of the river water). All major waterways in Germany seem to be affected. There are similar problems with water levels in the Danube, which flows through Germany, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia. In Britain there are also water shortages in some areas, with a legal battle going on between Southern Water and Fish Legal over plans to extract more water from the River Test, as reported by the Guardian. There are already hosepipe bans in place in some areas, and things are expected to get worse. Even Norway, land of fjords, has water shortages, and is considering reducing electricity supplies to the UK as a conservation measure (much of Norway's capacity is hydroelectric), as reported by The Express. What is shocking is how early in the season these shortages have hit, and how widespread they are. These problems may be a harbinger of times to come. |
Posted on 7th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
I found this report on the Guardian interesting but ultimately disappointing. The article features Ben Green, who is living a largely self sufficient vegan life on a 12 acre plot in East Germany. This is his plan to survive the "collapse of capitalism". He is not alone in his belief that this collapse is coming (many experts predict the collapse of society within the next 10 years). His plan, however, seems to have a number of flaws and peculiarities:
It is not that I think his reasons are wrong; I think societal collapse is very likely. It is just that his plan needs some serious work. |
Posted on 7th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
I saw an article today on Flipboard where the link asked the question "What If Science Cannot Save Us?" I haven't included the link to the article, because the actual headline in it does not include that question. The question has an obvious and trivially simple answer. What will happen, if science can't save us, is that climate change and other environmental damage will continue to get worse until enough people die that the environmental damage that humans are causing reduces enough to reverse climate change. Not to be forgotten is the fact that the environment only responds slowly to changes in pollution levels, which means that there will be overshoot: even after the population is reduced (due to heatwaves, food and water shortages and polluted food and water) enough to reverse the effects, things will continue to get worse (for perhaps another 50 years) before they improve. That, in turn, means that the human population will be reduced to even lower levels than are sustainable. In short, if we fail to fix the problem, due to scientific limitations, political issues, stupidity, or simply cost, we can expect life on earth to become very very unpleasant and hard, and for there to be a massive culling of humanity, due to our own stupidity and incompetence. Here are my predictions for the next 10 years, if we do not act quickly enough and strongly enough, based on current research and on what has already happened:
It will not be only humans who die. There will be massive reductions in the populations of wild plants and animals, with very many extinctions. Planet earth a century from now could be unrecognisable to us. These other species have just as much right to live on earth as we do. If you don't want this apocalyptic future to come to pass, it is time to act: use less energy, waste less food and water, generate less garbage, recycle more (buy products in fully recyclable packaging), travel less (especially less air travel) and vote for politicians who are committed to saving the planet. Make the change now; tomorrow may be too late! |
Posted on 4th August 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Service). |
This article on the BBC discusses a rising problem in the modern world: the increase in the abuse of service workers. We have all read about such incidents, and in many cases witnessed some ourselves; some of you may even be guilty of doing it yourselves, despite, perhaps, feeling guilty about it afterwards So, why is it happening ever more frequently? The article cites a couple of possible explanations:
I have a couple of points to add to the discussion:
Given the number of different issues at play here, there can be no single solution. Also, clearly, some of the causes lie with companies, and some with customers. Nevertheless, a bit of patience and tolerance will go a long way to easing the problem. |
Posted on 30th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (War in Ukraine). |
![]() The BBC reports that the northern city of Hannover "has turned off the heating and switched to cold showers in all public buildings because of the Russian gas crisis." This is a result of the war in Ukraine, and the resulting sanctions against Russia, which has in turn caused Russia to reduce supplies of natural gas to Europe. Several cities in Germany have already taken action to reduce gas consumption; the action by Hannover is just one example. The report also states "Other cities - such as Augsburg in Bavaria - have already introduced their own measures such as turning off public fountains." Well, that certainly doesn't include Munich (also in Bavaria), where public fountains are still running, as you can see from this photo, taken yesterday on Prinzregentenplatz. |
Posted on 28the July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
I heard about this event this week; it happened within the last week, in Munich. Doreen (not her real name) went to a clinic for a colonoscopy (a routine procedure, generally considered to be low risk). After she awoke from the anaesthetic, she was in a great deal of pain, and told the doctor about her pain. The clinic did an ultrasound scan and found nothing wrong, so the doctor insisted that there was nothing to worry about, but they nevertheless kept her in the clinic for two hours after she awoke. Doreen's daughter came to the clinic to take her mother home, and was told that Doreen was still unconscious from the anaesthetic. At the same time, the clinic told Doreen that her daughter had not yet arrived to collect her. Eventually, Doreen's daughter heard her mother's voice, and barged into her room, to find her fully conscious, compos mentis and in lots of pain. Despite the pain, the clinic felt that no further treatment was necessary, but Doreen sensibly decided to go to the hospital. The clinic felt that an ambulance was not called for, so Doreen got a taxi to the hospital. The doctor at the hospital was worried enough to order a CT scan, which discovered that Doreen's bowel had three punctures, one of which was very large. She was given emergency surgery, in which they repaired the two smaller punctures, and removed the section of her intestine with the larger hole (because it was not repairable). Then, of course, Doreen's abdominal cavity had to be flushed out, because her bowel had been leaking for several hours. Normal procedure after a bowel leak like this also includes a strong course of antibiotics. Doreen now has a surgical scar from below the navel up to her breast bone. She is probably still on antibiotics, and she can't lift anything. The hospital is to be praised for acting correctly and quickly; they probably saved Doreen's life. The clinic and their staff deserve to be punished for:
It is not as common in Germany to sue for things like malpractice as it is in the US, but in this case I think that Doreen should sue the clinic and the responsible doctor for her pain, stress and disfigurement. Her medical insurance could also attempt to recover the costs of Doreen's hospital treatment from the clinic, although they probably won't (they very rarely do). Doreen's employer could also attempt to use legal action to recover the costs of paying Doreen while she was on what should have been unnecessary sick leave (in Germany, employers pay the first 6 weeks of sick pay; after that, the medical insurer takes over the payment), but again, based on past cases, they probably won't. Finally, the responsible doctor should suffer disciplinary action; if this is not an isolated case, maybe even be struck off. I don't yet know the name of the hospital which gave Doreen such excellent and prompt treatment; neither do I know the name of the clinic which is so incompetent and irresponsible. If I find out either name, I will edit this post to add the details. |
Posted on 28th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
This article on Vice.com contains plenty of stupidity in just the headline and the first two-line paragraph. The headline reads "'Our Priority Is Not to Save the Planet': Rainforest Auctioned for Oil Drilling." Whilst technically correct, it is easily misinterpreted to mean "Our Priority Is To Not Save the Planet". It would have been better to say "It is not our priority to save the planet." I suspect that the journalist is not to blame, since it seems to be a quote of something said by a representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo. My issue with the journalist is the statement that "DR Congo will sell parts of the world's second-largest rainforest and peatlands that currently absorb a decade's worth of global carbon emissions. The absorption of carbon by the rainforest and peatlands is defined as a rate of absorption; the global carbon emissions are an amount; a rate and an amount cannot be directly compared. To put it another way, even a small 1 meter square of forest or peat can absorb a decades worth of global carbon emissions, if one waits long enough. |
Posted on 28th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Vice.com reports on the announcement by the Democratic Republic of Congo that they will auction off oil drilling rights in their large and environmentally vital rainforest and peatlands. This only months after promising to preserve these same rainforest and peatlands at the COP26 climate conference. It is clear why they did this; they need the money. It does, however, highlight a flaw with all the climate pledges made by nations, rich and poor, at COP26: the pledges will only be fulfilled as long as they don't cost too much, and as long as they don't interfere with sources of income. The need to save the planet by staving off climate change got good support at COP26, and has good support by people around the world, until it costs them money. You can ask people on the street whether they understand that saving the planet will increase prices, and they will reply "Yes, of course." Until, that is, that prices actually increase. The bottom line is that people are not prepared to pay anything for saving the planet. There are many things (actually most things) for which we do not pay the true cost. Here are a few examples. Fossil FuelsPrices for fossil fuels like natural gas, petroleum/gasoline, coal and peat currently do not include any charge for carbon pollution, methane pollution, environmental clean-up after mining has finished, etc. True costs of these products, if these climate costs were factored in, would be many times higher than we currently pay. Since we are not paying these environmental costs, we and our descendants will pay them in the form of reduced health, life-span and quality of life. Fuel costs trickle down into many other prices: air travel, goods in the shops, electricity, etc. Unfortunately, every attempt to set a more realistic price for fossil fuels, e.g. by levying a carbon tax, has met with fierce resistance from politicians with vested interests. Just look at the uproar by consumers around the world as fuel prices have risen as a result of the Ukraine war. People are clearly not prepared to pay a fair price for fossil fuel. BeefBeef is the most notorious of our farmed meat sources, being responsible for large mounts of methane pollution (in the farts and burps of cattle - methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2). Although efforts are under way to reduce the amount of methane that cattle emit, by selective breeding and alternative cattle feed, there have been no noticeable improvements so far. Other sources of meat (chicken, deer, ostrich, etc.) are less environmentally harmful than beef, but it will take a while, and an increase in the price of beef, for this to happen, and consumers will protest loudly about any beef price increases. SeafoodCurrent commercial fishing is unsustainable. Many species are overfished, with populations at risk of collapse. Many fishing methods are destroying the habitats, like coral reefs, upon which the fish depend. Enormous quantities of fish, bycatch, are discarded because they have no commercial value, or to avoid exceeding quotas. There is a huge problem with illegal fishing, much by Chinese fishing fleets: fishing in other nation's territorial waters, and even in protected marine reserves. Many of you may remember that, in recent decades there have been crises about population collapses of herring and cod, requiring stricter limits on catches. Currently, some populations of wild salmon are under severe threat. Freshwater eels have been nearly wiped out. Sturgeon has been similarly decimated, causing caviar exports from Russia to be banned for a while, and driving caviar prices through the roof. On top of this, a recent study reports that plankton (the base of all seafood food-chains) in the Atlantic has been reduced by 90% (see here), which means that Atlantic catches will plummet in the next few years. At root, the problem is that we are catching too much, plus we are drastically polluting the oceans upon which we depend for our fish, thus reducing fish populations. Seafood prices need to increase a lot, to reduce demand. If you want to eat fish, you should probably be looking for farmed fish: salmon, trout, carp, perch, etc. We are clearly not paying enough for seafood, but, again, consumers will rebel if there is a significant price hike. Palm Oil ProductsPalm oil is used in many products: foodstuffs like Nutella and other processed foods, cosmetics and soaps. Many people do not even realise that they are buying products made with palm oil. You don't get an idea of the scale of the problem with palm oil production until you fly over South East Asia: Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Looking out of the aircraft window you will see millions upon millions of acres of palm oil plantation, which has supplanted the native forest (home to Orangutans). Natural diversity has been drastically reduced, putting many species at risk of extinction. Palm oil is so cheap that is is used in an unbelievable number of products, and this is destroying our planet. The price has to be increased as part of any effort to save the Earth. BuildingsThe carbon costs of concrete, used in all kinds of building, is enormous. Research is under way to develop less carbon intensive methods of producing concrete are under way, but this has yet to trickle down in any scale in the form of lower carbon pollution buildings. Obviously, carbon impacts need to be factored into the cost of concrete, but it seems unlikely to happen any time soon; there is just too much consumer resistance. SummaryIt is obvious that we need to act now, to save our planet. It is also obvious that we need to consume less of some critical resources. One of the best understood and easiest to implement methods to limit consumption is to raise prices. If we do not raise prices (in the form of special taxes) to reduce and adjust consumption, anything else that we do, or talk about doing, to limit climate change and other environmental damage is just hot air (figuratively and literally). |
Posted on 24th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
Whilst it should come as no surprise to anyone that there are lots of stupid members of the US Congress, the case in this report on The Daily Mail really takes the biscuit! Representative Jason Crow is quoted as saying "You can take someone's DNA and design a weapon that can kill them" and that bio-weapons are being made that use a target's DNA to only kill that person. He urges people not to share their DNA with health data with sites like 23andMe. There are a couple of problems with his statements:
I do, however, agree that it is not a good idea to share your DNA with such companies, nor indeed with anyone, for various reasons including the fact that some of these companies share your DNA with law enforcement agencies. Plus, of course, at some point the targeted bio-weapons that Jason Crow is worried about will become viable as prices continue to fall. |
Posted on 29th May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
Despite the stupidity, this article on The Mirror was interesting. It was a warning about possible effects of a near miss by a solar flare, forecast for yesterday. One of the possible results of solar flares is disruption to telecommunications, and is the likely reason why none of our local shops were able to accept card payments on Saturday. The stupidity was in relation to the acronym CME, which the author, Alice Peacock, translated (twice!) as "Coronal Mass Injection", whereas it stands for Coronal Mass Ejection (ejection being the complete opposite of injection). This is clearly more than simple ignorance (I would not expect the term Coronal Mass Ejection to be part of most people's knowledge); the fact that the acronym is CME, rather than CMI, should have given the game away. |
Posted on 17th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
I am not sure who is stupider: the authors of this article on "The Edge Markets", or the Russian government. If the report is to be believed, the Russian government is angry with Elon Musk's Starlink because "the Starlink satellite constellation was used to guide and modify fire on the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the cruiser Moskva". The thing is, Starlink satellites provide Internet connection; they have no capability for providing images of earth, whether optical, thermal, radar, lidar or whatever. The only assistance that they could provide in targeting the Moskva is an Internet access service. Blaming Starlink for the sinking of the Moskva is like blaming AT&T because someone used their Internet access service to read a press statement issued by the US government which was critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The statement in the article that Dmitry Medvedev has ordered, as punishment for their actions, the destruction of the Starlink satellite constellation located over Russian Federation territory, the special military operation zone (i.e. Ukraine) and the Black Sea basin is pure nonsense. Whilst there are geostationary satellites (which are above that same part of the earth all the time), these are necessarily above the equator (none of the territories listed by Russia lie on the equator); Starlink satellites are all in low-earth orbit, which means they cover different parts of the planet in each orbit. Destroying the Starlink satellites which at some time pass over Russia, Ukraine and the Black Sea would essentially mean destroying every single Starlink satellite. That would keep the Russians busy for some time. |
Posted on 6th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
This article on the BBC is a promotional piece, pure and simple. It describes the idyllic-sounding island of Montserrat, and talks about how the island's government is now promoting the British overseas territory as a destination for so-called digital nomads, on the basis that it is a beautiful and cheap place to work remotely. Given their target audience, I was somewhat surprised to find absolutely no mention of their telecoms infrastructure. Phones and fast and reliable Internet are absolutely essential for any digital nomads, but the author didn't think to cover this subject. A wasted read, written by someone stupid. |
Posted on 27th February 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
I found this article on "The Daddest" recently while browsing Facebook. It contains some hilarious examples of ignorance and stupidity by Americans. The author's position seems to be that, yes, some Americans are stupid, but that he himself is not; sadly not true. ![]() This is a copy from the article of a social media conversation between an ignorant American and a better informed person from somewhere else (unspecified). The American states, correctly, that the Internet is an American invention; the final posting states, also correctly, that the World Wide Web is a European invention. The author of the article demonstrates that he doesn't know the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web (the Internet is a communication network between computers, and the World Wide Web is a method of sharing and presenting information on those computers, which uses the Internet to access that information). The Internet was an invention of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense; the World Wide Web was developed by Tim Berners-Lee for CERN, so a European invention. The author "clarifies" that Tim Berners-Lee is an American, whereas as, in fact, he is British. The idea that the units that one uses (in this case MPH) should be dictated by the inventor of the medium is laughable. That would mean that I should use KPH if writing something on Facebook using a browser (i.e. using the World Wide Web), but MPH if writing it using an App. |
Posted on 27th February 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
Although I find the content of this BBC article ("US Supreme Court blocks Biden's workplace vaccine mandate") sad, I had to laugh at the sign being held by the African-American gentleman in the photo at the start of the article, which says "Make Mandates Optional". That would be a good trick, but the very nature of a mandate is that it is not optional; if something is optional, it is not mandated. It seems that human stupidity knows no bounds. |
Posted on 12th September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
Yesterday Sheryl was watching an American TV show on a streaming service. The show is called something like "Metal Shop", and is a competition where contestants make items from metal. One contestant explained that she was turning a work item slowly, at "5 RPMs per minute". RPM is an acronym for Revolutions Per Minute, so she claimed that she was turning it at 5 revolutions per minute per minute. Also, RPM does not have a plural; one should say "5 RPM". Of course, there is such a thing as RPM per minute; it is a measure of the rate of change of RPM; after one minute rotation rate would be 5 RPM, and after 2 minutes it would be 10 RPM. That, however, is not what the contestant meant. I would expect that "RPM" would be part of her expert vocabulary; even if her language skills are not great in all domains, they should be good in her area of expertise. |
Posted on 3rd September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
People's stupidity continues to amaze me. This article on Gizmodo reports on a woman from Illinois who was arrested trying to enter Hawaii with a fake vaccination card which identified her vaccination as "Maderna"! If you are going to all the effort of creating fake proof of vaccination, wouldn't you at least check the spelling of the vaccine? |
Posted on 26th August 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
Sometimes I despair of people. This report on Gizmodo describes new data that shows that "acceptance of evolution among Americans has increased, even among religious fundamentalists", and that evolution deniers are now a minority in the United States. Evolution is a well established thing, with many well documented examples of evolution in action in the modern world; so no longer just a theory. Americans, however, have until recently, mostly not believed or accepted it, with many schools banning the teaching of evolution. I find it very worrying that the USA, the nation with the most powerful military in the world, the powerhouse of technological innovation and the leading Western economy, has only just recently come around to accepting that evolution is real. I guess one doesn't need to be smart and educated to be rich and powerful. |
Posted on 1st April 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
As the FBI continues to track down, arrest and charge people who participated in the insurrection at the Capitol in Washington DC, this news story on Vice shows what incredible idiots many of the rioters are. 'When federal authorities arrested a Capitol rioter who called for the deaths of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a Capitol Police officer, they knew they had their guy, because he was allegedly wearing a shirt bearing the words “I Was There, Washington D.C., January 6, 2021.”' There are only two possible conclusions: either he wanted them to find and arrest him, or his stupidity beggars belief. |
Posted on 13th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Stupid People). |
This article on the BBC, from late December 2020, reports about the last minute deal on Brexit. It seems that some of the text of the agreement was simply copied and pasted from previous (and very old) agreements. The agreement mentions Netscape browser and Mozilla Mail: "modern e-mail software packages including Outlook, Mozilla Mail as well as Netscape Communicator 4.x"; The latter two are now obsolete - the last major release of Netscape Communicator was in 1997. It also recommends using encryption technology which is now vulnerable to cyber-attacks. It is so good to know that the UK government and the EU Commission are looking after us so well. |
Posted on 29th March 2019 |
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This short piece on Raw Story really shows how stupid people can be about their prejudices. A man in California totally lost it in a Mexican fast food restaurant: Palapas Tacos in Anaheim. He complained (by shouting and gesticulating) about one menu sign which contained something (the day of the week on which a special was available), even though other signs in the restaurant spelled that same information out in English. My first thought was that it was a Mexican restaurant, and Mexican customers speak Spanish. My second thought, as I read the story while sitting in a restaurant in the Netherlands and perusing an English menu, was "thank goodness that menus in other languages are totally normal and expected here". Yes, I understand that the USA is an English speaking country (kinda), and that people who live and work there should speak English, but the people at Palapas Tacos do speak English, albeit not well. There is nothing wrong with providing menus and other information in languages that the customers speak, as long as that same information is provided in English, which it was. Does this racist lunatic really want to stop people (citizens, residents and visitors) speaking other languages in the USA? Would that mean that, if I visited the USA, I would not be allowed to speak my proper English English, and have to use American English instead? Why are Americans so against other languages? I recently read an article about Pete Buttigieg, a mayor who is running for the Democratic nomination for the Presidential elections in 2020. He speaks several languages (Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, Dari, and French) and analysts suggest that this could count against him in his nomination bid, because voters don't really approve. I see and hear a lot of American tourists in Europe, and I know that they are mostly not able to speak other languages, and also totally incompetent in speaking English to non-native-English-speakers (i.e. using different words when you have to repeat yourself, using words that are latin-based which are more likely to exist in the language of your listeners, avoiding colloquial/slang words, using simpler grammar, using redundancy in your sentences, avoiding euphemisms, speaking more slowly, etc.). I contrast the above with Germany, where people will book a vacation somewhere where they don't speak the language, and promptly sign up for a course in that language, so that they will be able to communicate when they are there; also, people in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, where most people are fluent in several languages (ask a Dutch person "Do you speak English?" the answer is always "Yes, of course"). English is, world-wide, the most popular second language to learn. English is spoken in more and more places, and you can get by on a business trip or a vacation totally in English. Many schools across the world have English as a mandatory course. This is, in part because other countries encourage it, as a vital enabler for business, as help for tourists, and other reasons. Don't Americans feel any duty to respond in kind, and encourage the teaching and use of other languages in the USA? After all, the neighbouring countries to the south all speak Spanish, and to the north, part of Canada speaks French. It certainly seems that the ranting customer in this incident does not feel that way. |
Posted on 25th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
We have all been impacted in the last couple of years by the shortage of semiconductor chips (thankfully now easing), which caused shortages and delayed delivery of many things: cars, household electrical goods like dishwashers and washing machines, computers and their accessories, mobile phones, etc. The USA has realised that their dependence on foreign chip foundries in Taiwan, South Korea and even China is of strategic importance, and has decided to do something about it, as reported by Fortune. The problem is that the investment of $52 billion is too little, too late. It will take hundreds of billions of dollars, and decades, for the US to catch up with Asia in chip fabrication. This dependence on Asian semiconductor factories does, however, explain why the USA has come down off the fence and stated unequivocally that they are prepared to defend Taiwan against aggression by China. As always, countries who pretend to be altruistic and moral have self interest as their real motivation. |
Posted on 25the July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
I recently blogged about an alternative to statins for lowering cholesterol, and how desperately needed it is (here), due to the side-effects of statins. Now, someone has found a beneficial side-effect of statins, as reported here on The Brighter Side Of News.. It seems that statins slow down the metastasis of some cancers, stopping them from spreading to new locations in the body. I suppose that nothing in this world is all bad. |
Posted on 24th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Monkeypox). |
According to this report on the BBC, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared their highest level of alert, a global health emergency, over monkeypox. This is the same level as that declared for Covid-19, although monkeypox has not (yet) been declared a pandemic. The BBC article contains some worrying numbers: more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries (the US has confirmed two cases in children, as reported here by the BBC), although so far only 5 deaths. The rate of spread of the infection seems similar to that of Covid-19 at the same stage. Monkeypox really does seem to be on track to be the next pandemic. |
Posted on 21st July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
We should all be very worried about the study reported by The Sunday Post. The study by the the Global Oceanic Environmental Survey Foundation (Goes) at the University of Edinburgh, found that 90% of the plankton in the Atlantic Ocean has vanished. Researchers blame pollution from plastics, farm fertilisers and pharmaceuticals for the decline in plankton. The Atlantic contains a number of important commercial fisheries. Plankton is at the base of all aquatic food chains, and the loss of it will impact all species in the sea, leading to massive population drops, and extinctions, of fish, crustaceans (crab and lobster) and aquatic mammals such as whales, seals and dolphins. We are looking at a future without seafood, in the very near future. It seems that the world described in Soylent Green is coming, and much sooner than anyone expected. If you haven't seen this prescient movie, watch it now (steaming on Amazon Prime, Vudu, VUDU, Redbox and Apple TV). |
Posted on 21st July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This article on USA Today claims that it will tell you the what is the deadliest spider in the world. The answer seems to be the funnel web spider, although this is not explicitly stated. What puts the veracity of the article into question is the description, in the first paragraph, of spiders as "many-legged insects". Spiders are most definitely not insects; insects are a totally different class of species; insects have 6 legs, and spiders have 8. Why do these journalists try to pass themselves off as experts, when they clearly know nothing about the topics they write about? |
Posted on 21st July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Religion). |
As reported on Pop Sugar, there is a movement to boycott Walgreens (a large low-cost pharmacy in the US) due to incidents where there staff have refused to sell birth control (condoms and birth control pills) to customers. In the related twitter posts, there are not only many cases of such refusal, but also a case where the employees have lied about whether there were any repeats left on a prescription for birth control pills and whether the pills were in stock, and another case where someone ordered a pregnancy test online and received something entirely different. Walgreens' policy is that staff can refuse to sell items, if the item conflicts with their religious views; in that case they must hand the sale off to another staff member. My initial question is, what if there is no staff member on duty whose religious views permit them to sell the requested item? Also, there is no excuse for lying about the status of a prescription (whether there are remaining repeats on it) and lying about whether the pills are in stock; most religions frown on lying. Finally, knowingly sending an incorrect item ordered online puts the company in breach of contract. I find Walgreens' policy bizarre. An employee, especially a salesperson, is a representative of the company: of their views and policies. Since it is Walgreens' policy to sell birth control and pregnancy tests, every employee should be prepared to do so; if not, they took the job under false pretenses, and should leave and work somewhere which doesn't cause conflicts with their religious views. So, I agree: boycott Walgreens, until they change their policy. I feel that, at root, this is a problem of employees not properly understanding what it means to have a JOB, and is part of the disease of wokeism, political correctness and fear of offending people (in this case, Walgreens' staff). |
Posted on 20the July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
This report on The Brighter Side Of News describes a new, quick and simple operation to cure prostate cancer using an electrical 'nanoknife'. Prostate cancer is relatively common, and is difficult to treat because the prostate gland is hard to reach. One of the current treatments, chemical castration, is not popular among patients, for obvious reasons. The new one-hour 'nanoknife' operation has been described by surgeons as "amazingly simple and quick". I am sure that it will prove very popular among patients and doctors. |
Posted on 20the July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
As someone who takes a statin, I was very interested to read this article on FreeThink.com, about a trial on humans currently under way to test a CRISPR (gene editing) technique to reduce cholesterol. The treatment is a one-time permanent cure for high cholesterol. Statins are very widely prescribed; reducing cholesterol in the blood significantly reduces the risk of heart attacks and stroke, but there are a host of side effects, ranging from psychological effects to a long list of physical effects; they are also incompatible with grapefruit which vastly amplifies the negative side-effects of statins. Any alternative to taking statins would be very welcome for many people, including myself. Doctors will be pleased to have an alternative treatment for high cholesterol. It will save them the time and effort of regularly prescribing statins. Also, because of the side-effects, many patients resist being prescribed statins, or stop taking them after a while. Medical insurers will probably also be pleased to be able to replace the regular costs of prescriptions for statins with a one-time gene-editing treatment; although CRISPR treatments are not cheap, over the long term probably cheaper than the medicine. |
Posted on 20th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
It has been several weeks since I posted and Covid-19 news, so there are a lot of things to report. Rises In InfectionsMany countries are seeing another wave of infections. This article on The Times reports on the summer rise of Covid cases in Germany. This report on Sky News describes the situation in the UK, where the number of cases rose by 43% to 1,415,600 in the second week of June. Travel RestrictionsThis article on the BBC (from the 10th of June) reports that the USA has dropped its requirement for air travellers to be tested before being able to fly. US airlines have also dropped their mask requirement. Canada has rescinded its vaccination mandate for air travellers, according to this BBC report from the 14th of June. This report on Schengen Visa Info lists the EU countries which have retained their entry restrictions for the summer: France, Malta, The Netherlands and Spain. It describes the restrictions in each of these four countries. It also explicitly lists the countries which have lifted their entry rules. Long CovidThis article on the BBC reports on a study which found that Omicron is less likely to cause Long Covid than other variants of the virus. This report on Fortune lists 6 groups (although there may be more) of people who are at higher risk of developing Long Covid:
ReinfectionThe Daily Beast reports on a study of Covid-19 which shows that with each reinfection, you are likely to get sicker, and suffer more side-effects than the time before. This is not good news, given that the Omicron variant seems able to overcome the body's immunity from vaccination and having been previously infected, so reinfections are now very common (The Conversation reports that "reinfection will be part of the pandemic for months to come"). VaccinationsBoth Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are working on Omicron-specific vaccinations, and have begun trials. This article on USA News reports that the trial of the Pfizer/BioNTech Omicron-specific vaccination is proving to be more protective against Omicron. I expect the Moderna trials to show similar effectiveness. Also, Pfizer/BioNTech is about to start testing a universal coronavirus vaccine: one that would protect against not only Covid-19, but also potentially MERS, SARS, the common cold and a number of other viral infections, as reported here on The Jerusalem Post. This BBC report describes a study which showed that taking a short break from the immune-suppressive drug methotrexate directly after getting a Covid booster shot improved the effectiveness of the vaccination. Novavax’s vaccine, which has already been authorized in more than 40 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, the EU and Australia, has been shown in a study to provide good protection against the Omicron variant, as reported here by New Atlas. This article on the Toronto Sun reports that Canada now requires all citizens to get a Covid-19 booster every 9 months. This is in line with Covid vaccination validity regulations in the EU. This report on Medical News Today describes the results of a study showing that the BA.5 and BA.4 Omicron subvariants are over four times as resistant to mRNA vaccines, as produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. If you are due another booster shot, you should try to get either Novavax or a new Omicron-specific mRNA vaccine (when the become available). This report on Cleveland.com describes a study showing that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunisation may provide a degree of protection against Covid-19; there is also a possibility that the Tdap vaccination (against Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis) provides similar immunity against Covid-19. This may explain some of the variability in the severity of illness from Covid infections. TestingThe situation regarding Covid-19 tests is rather confusing. On the one hand, Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT, also known as lateral flow tests) have been reported as being more accurate than PCR tests. This article on The Atlantic, however, reports on a growing problem with RAT: that, at least with the Omicron variant, tests can yield negative results for two or three days after symptoms appear, before one gets a positive test result. Side-EffectsNew Atlas reports on a large study confirming what I have previously written in this blog, shown by previous studies, that there is a big increased in the risk of heart disease and diabetes for several months after a Covid-19 infection. |
Posted on 18th July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad English). |
I decided to start a new thread for examples of bad English, because there have been such a lot of them lately (and that is not even including those that I saw in Facebook posts). In this report on NBC News, about a woman waking from a coma after two years and identifying her attacker as her brother, is a quote of Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellenger: "The keys to the whole thing lay with the victim herself and with her unable to communicate we were left with nothing. Now low and behold two years later and boom, she's awake and able to tell us exactly what happened." I am pretty sure that the statement by the Sheriff was oral, not written, so it is the journalist who doesn't know that the expression is "lo and behold" ("lo" is found fairly often in the Bible). Also, one normally says "The key to ...", not "The keys to ...", although this may be the fault of the Sheriff. Another example is the headline of this report on CNX Software, which reads "YD-CH32V307VCT6 RISC-V MCU board comes with Ethernet and plenty of I/Os". I/O, which stands for input/output, can be used either as an adjective (e.g. "... has plenty of I/O ports") or as a noun, but as a noun it is non-countable (like air, water, time, money, etc.), so it has no plural (e.g. "... has plenty of I/O"). I would expect a publication that specialises in computer technology to know this. Then there is this article on Discover Magazine. The "scientist you should know", Carolyn Bertozzi, has coined the word bioorthogonal to describe her field of research, and explains “Orthogonal means not interacting, and bioorthogonal means not interacting with biology,”. No, orthogonal does not mean not interacting, it means perpendicular (at a right-angle). Maybe the headline should read "Scientist You Should Know Not To Listen To: Carolyn Bertozzi ..." There is also the headline of this report on "19 Forty Five", which reads "The F-22 Is So Stealth It Flew Under an Iranian F-4 Completely Undetected". Leaving aside the fact that the F-22 is a much more modern and advanced aircraft than the F-4 (so outdated that it is no longer flown by western nations - an F-22 should be able to remain largely undetected by an F-4), the word "Stealth" is a noun; if you want to use it as an adjective, you should use the adjective form, "Stealthy". Finally, there is the headline of this report on "NY Post", which reads "Scientists develop dissolvable implant that can relieve pain without drugs." The word is "soluble"; the author clearly knows this, since he uses it in the body of the article. |
Posted on 3rd July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This article on the BBC bemoans the dreadful state of salmon in Ireland's rivers. Things are indeed very bad, especially for a country which used to market itself (possibly still does) as clean and pollution free, with a vibrant wildlife. Sadly, pollution and overfishing have decimated wild salmon populations. About one third of the way down the article is a paragraph which starts with "As the only fish whose lifecycle demands a transition from salt to fresh water, ..." As any reasonably well informed reader will know, there are actually quite a few species which migrate from salt-water to fresh water to breed, and a few which migrate from fresh water to salt-water to breed. Here are some examples:
Kate Ryan, the journalist who wrote this article, is not a good advertisement for Irish education. |
Posted on 3rd July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
The BBC reports here on Lewis Hamilton's statement that 'Older voices' should be refused a platform to make offensive comments. I have a number of issues with Mr. Hamilton's position:
I anyway do not subscribe to the cult of celebrities, and Lewis Hamilton had already demonstrated that he is not someone suited to lead public opinion, but with his latest statement I will definitely no longer take his opinions seriously. |
Posted on 24th June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Gun Law). |
The BBC reports here on the recent decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn New York's gun control legislation, declaring it unconstitutional. I find this very sad in the light of the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and hard to fathom, even though the court was loaded with Republican justices during the Trump administration. The court found that laws to restrict gun ownership breached the second amendment to the US Constitution, which states "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Interpretations vary, but a commonly held understanding is that people have the right to bear arms in the context of a well regulated militia. That does not imply that the have the right to:
There is legislation similar to that in New York in states including California and New Jersey, affecting about a quarter of Americans. All such laws are now at risk. What will it take for America to get over their love affair with guns and put some sensible legislation in place? Other countries manage perfectly well without widespread gun ownership. My family traditionally hunted (deer, rabbits, pheasants and the like) and were able to own guns (rifles and shotguns) for hunting as long as they had licences and kept the guns secure. |
Posted on 23rd June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread. |
I am sure that I am not alone in being shocked by the UK government's decision to send illegal immigrants into Britain, many of whom are asylum seekers, to Rwanda. The case, quite rightly, has been referred to the The European Court of Human Rights, which has blocked the deportations to Rwanda. The UK government is now seeking get around this situation by passing legislation that would allow them to ignore the court's rulings, as reported here by the BBC. I shouldn't need to point this out, but apparently I do: The European Court of Human Rights is the only reason why many human rights exist in the UK, as this satirical sketch from 2016, starring Patrick Stewart, so aptly points out. The erosion of human rights in Britain is one of the many downsides of Brexit that I highlighted when Brexit was being discussed. Another point to consider is that sending immigrants to Rwanda doesn't actually seem to work. As this BBC report explains, many immigrants previously sent to Rwanda by Israel are now in Europe, having been deported by Rwanda. This means that some of the people who Britain sends to could be back in Britain in a couple of years! |
Posted on 23th June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
This article on the BBC reports that Victoria, the southern state in Australia which includes Melbourne, has banned the display of the Nazi swastika. Well, it's about time! This page on Wikipedia lists countries which have banned the swastika and other Nazi symbols and flags; I count 13. Such things have long been banned in Germany, although the rules are complicated, as explained here by DW. |
Posted on 23rd June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sexual Equality). |
There seems to be a bit of a bandwagon rolling at the moment regarding transgender athletes. This article on the BBC reports that swimming's world governing body, Fina, has banned transgender athletes from competing in women's elite races if they have gone through any part of the process of male puberty. The decision by Fina was praised by Sharron Davies, winner of a silver medal for swimming in the 1980 Olympics, and she called for other sports to follow suit, as reported here by the Daily Mail. Recently, cycling updated their own rules but were criticised for continuing to base transgender inclusion on testosterone levels and admitting they could not 'eliminate all advantages held by a transgender'. Following hot on the heels of that decision, the International Rugby League (IRL) has decided to ban transgender players from women's international rugby league matches, as reported here by the BBC. At the moment this is a temporary ban, while the issue is further studied. The latest development, reported here on the BBC, is that Lord Coe, the World Athletics president, has hinted the sport could also ban transgender women from elite female competitions, insisting "fairness is non-negotiable". Some readers are probably not pleased, because they feel that we should not punish athletes for their decisions about gender identity. My position, however, is that, if they had ambitions to compete as women at the top levels of a sport, they should have taken that into account before deciding on their gender reassignment surgery. The choice is easy to state, although not so easy to make: either stay male and compete in your sport, or become female and give up your sporting ambitions. Lord Coe's position that "fairness is non-negotiable" trumps all other issues. |
Posted on 29th May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
Anyone who likes fast food will be upset by these shortages. This article on the BBC reports that KFC in Australia has been forced to put cabbage in its burgers and wraps as the country is struggling with a shortage of lettuce. The company is now using a mixture of lettuce and cabbage, after floods destroyed lettuce crops. Also, in a few countries, there is a shortage of chicken:
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Posted on 4th June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Monkeypox). |
According to this report on Gizmodo there are now over 1,000 cases of monkeypox in two dozen countries (179 in the UK alone, according to this report on the BBC). More alarming is that two distinct strains (variants) have been detected in the USA, which suggests two different sources for the infections. The rate of spread (far higher than was detected for Covid-19, although the symptoms of monkeypox are much more obvious), the fact that it is spreading way beyond the normal geography of monkeypox and the new feature of spreading via sex all suggest that we should be worried. It is starting to look as if monkeypox could turn into a pandemic. This report on The Atlantic says that we should have seen this outbreak coming, since the warning signs were all there five years ago: spreading to new areas (Nigeria) and spreading through sexual contact. It seems that, as usual, no-one listened to the scientists. I am not particularly worried for myself, as I was vaccinated against smallpox as a child, which gives fairly good protection against monkeypox, but the younger generations have no such protections. I will definitely get a monkeypox vaccination when it becomes generally available. |
Posted on 4th June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cryptocurrency). |
I found this report on Devon Live rather bizarre, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was surprised that most of the customers trying to buy Bitcoin from the "Bitcoin ATM" in the pub in Devon are middle-aged women. Secondly, I was extremely shocked that people are still investing in Bitcoin, given that there was such a large drop in prices recently. This article on CNBC, from the 12th of May reports that over $200 billion was erased from the entire cryptocurrency market in a single day. Although the price of Bitcoin has since picked up a little (not true for some of the other cryptocurrencies), the advice from Nicholas Cawley, a strategist at DailyFX, reported here on Time, is that "The technical outlook is neutral at best and Bitcoin really needs to trade back above $40,000 before any kind of bullish outlook can be confirmed." In other words, the market may not yet have bottomed-out, and investors should really not be buying-in just yet. I have always said that the cryptocurrency market is a bubble, pure and simple. Whilst some readers may disagree, cryptocurrency has absolutely no inherent value and is not backed by any governments (with one minor exception), companies or physical assets. It is a fad; nothing more. Investors should therefore not be surprised by major market fluctuations. |
Posted on 27th February 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Vegetarianism). |
In this article on Aeon, Nick Zangwill, a professor of philosophy and honorary research fellow at University College London, makes an interesting case that we have a duty to eat meat. The article is certainly worth reading. At home we now eat much less meat than we used to (vegetarian dinners about 4 times per week - more often seems to have negative effects on my health) but our reasons are for our health, not because of cruelty to animals. Neither I nor Sheryl can deal with vegan food, being too addicted to cheese. |
Posted on 24th May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Monkeypox). |
After more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is clearly far from over, people are understandably worried about the outbreak of monkeypox now hitting Europe and the USA. Well, there is good news and bad news. Good NewsThe WHO says that monkeypox outbreaks are containable, according to this report on the BBC. This is partly based on historical data on the infectiousness of monkeypox among humans (in past outbreaks it was not very infectious to humans), and partly because the smallpox virus is similar to the monkeypox virus, so that our stocks of smallpox vaccine will offer at least partial protection. Bad NewsThe current outbreak is a mutation of standard monkeypox, which is transmitted through sexual contact, according to this article on Forbes. This seems to be making it more infectious; only time well tell how much more infectious. Smallpox was declared by the WHO to have been eradicated in 1980. Since then, no more smallpox vaccine has been made, and the vaccination campaign has ended. This means that currently 70% of the world population is no longer protected against smallpox, because they are too young or were missed in the vaccination campaign, and there are probably insufficient stocks to vaccinate all these people. It may take quite some time to make more smallpox vaccine, or to develop a new vaccine specifically for monkeypox. There is also currently no data about the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine against this new variant of monkeypox. What Should We Do?There a couple of things that you can do to protect yourself:
And yes, until there is more data, you should probably worry (a little), but, currently, it seems there is little chance of lockdowns and new travel restrictions due to monkeypox. |
Posted on 2nd June 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Risk Of Infection![]() This article on The Huffington Post includes an interesting graph (shown to the right) of how one's risk of reinfection with Covid-19 increases over time (from the last infection, or presumably, from the date of one's last vaccination). This article on Salon reports on a study which shows that vaccination against Covid-19 reduces the risk of infection by only 15%! This article on Fortune reports on the 5th wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, which was predominantly the Omicron variant, which happened even though 97% of the population had antibody protection (either from vaccination or previous infection). Side-Effects of CovidOne of the possible side-effects of Covid-19 is type 2 diabetes (which is why I am now diabetic). Studies (e.g. this one, published on BMJ.com) have shown that vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of serious illness from the coronavirus, and that treatment with vitamin D supplements can reduce the severity and duration of illness. This report on by Medical News Today looks into the use of vitamin D supplements for treating type 2 diabetes; although the results of studies are mixed, it suggests to me that the coronavirus may interfere with the body's vitamin D metabolism to cause type 2 diabetes. Also on Medical News Today is this report which suggests (a causative link has not yet been proven) that Covid-19 can cause long-term (maybe even permanent) thyroid dysfunction, which could cause a wide range of knock-on health effects. |
Posted on 31st May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
Health authorities in the USA are pushing for statins to be added to public water supplies, as mentioned in this paper on PubMed. I am shocked and horrified, as, it seems, are the authors of the paper. Statins have some pretty bad side-effects, the worst of which is muscle damage. This report on The Express describes how, for some people, these side-effects are permanent, even after the patients stop taking the anti-cholesterol drugs. One of the things which seriously amplifies the muscle damaging side-effects is grapefruit. The pamphlets which accompany statins advise strongly against eating grapefruit and drinking grapefruit juice. Do American health authorities plan to outlaw grapefruit (destroying a whole industry in the process), or do they plan to just let people suffer the side effects of consuming grapefruit in combination with the statins they plan to add to public water? |
Posted on 31st May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sexual Equality). |
This piece on The Daily Mail weighs in on the debate about transgender athletes. In it, doctors confirm that Lia Thomas has an unfair advantage over athletes who were born female, despite taking testosterone suppressants. As I have explained previously in this thread, the advantage comes from physiological differences, rather than from hormones. I think it may be time for people to stop worrying about the risk of transgender athletes being offended, and start worrying about real fairness in sport. |
Posted on 31st May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on The Guardian should concern us all. It describes how billions of fish are being wasted globally, more than ever before. The waste is at every stage, from the fishing vessels to the home, and the quantities are appalling. Part of the problem is actually the fishing quotas designed to protect fish stocks; when the catch exceeds the quota, the excess is simply dumped overboard. Another issue is the use of indiscriminate fishing methods (bottom trawling and very long drift nets, for example) which, in addition to the intended catch, catch fish which either have lower market value, or are simply not what the fishing vessel went out to catch; again, this bycatch is dumped back into the ocean. Bottom trawling is especially harmful, as it destroys coral reefs. The bycatch is not only fish, but also crustaceans, dolphins, seals, whales, turtles and even seabirds, many of which are endangered and or protected species, as are many species of fish. The seas are anyway being overfished, and it is the height of irresponsibility to catch unwanted fish and then dump them. We are destroying our planet with global warming and pollution, and food will be in short supply in future, and we can't afford to waste such a valuable food resource. What we urgently need is:
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Posted on 29th May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
This article on the BBC reports on the worrying price rises for fertiliser. The article features Rachael Sharp, who grows a mix of soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, peanuts and oats on her farm in South Carolina. She saw fertiliser prices for her crops soar 320% last year, which is an incredible price rise. As a result she is changing what crops she grows. The price rise of fertilisers is a direct result of sanctions against Russia, in response to their invasion of Ukraine. These price rises and shortages will inevitably trickle through to food prices, and will probably cause more food shortages as other farmers follow Rachael Sharp's example and switch to other crops. |
Posted on 24th May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
I find this decision by the UK's Privacy Watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), reported here by the BBC, to be quite bizarre. Clearview AI has been fined more than £7.5m for collecting and using public data (more than 20 billion facial photographs and names) in their facial recognition database. Whilst I am no fan of facial recognition databases, I find it odd that a company can be punished for collecting and using publicly available data. Once something is published, protections under copyright and privacy regulations are usually very limited. For example, if you upload your photos to Facebook, you have granted Facebook (Meta) ownership of the copyright of your photos (which is why I no longer upload my photos to Facebook); the same applies to many other social media platforms. I would not be surprised if this decision was successfully challenged. |
Posted on 22nd May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
In the last few weeks there have been several news reports about shortages and price rises. It seems that these are things we will just have to get used to and adapt to. War In UkraineThe war in Ukraine, and the resulting sanctions against Russia, are already causing global shortages of several key foods, and of energy supplies, and the UN is warning that the war may cause a global food crisis, as reported here by the BBC. Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of wheat, maize, barley, rapeseed and sunflower oil (shortages of rapeseed and sunflower oil are already causing knock-on shortages of all cooking oils). Russia is also one of the world's largest exporters of fish (good luck buying caviar now!). Russia is a huge exporter of oil and gas, and Europe is struggling to rely less on Russian energy exports (and Russia has already cut off supplies of gas to Finland, to punish them for trying to join NATO, as reported here on NPR). Here in Germany we are already seeing flour and cooking oil becoming harder to get. Energy prices are going up across the world. It seems likely that beer will eventually become more expensive (a very big deal for Germany!), as the shortage of barley starts to bite, and whisky prices are also likely to rise. Climate ChangeGlobal warming is also causing shortages, which must eventually lead to price rises. A recent example is described in this BBC report about a shortage of mustard, caused partly by climate change and partly by the war in Ukraine. Over the last few years there have been many warnings that we could suffer from a worldwide coffee shortage, due to climate change. A recent article can be found here on Morgan Stanley. Scientists are warning that the massive worldwide decline in insect populations (essential for crop pollination), caused by a mix of climate change and pesticides, will cause huge increases in food bills, as reported here on Euronews. Economic WoesDue to domestic economic issues, Indonesia has banned the export of palm oil, impacting global food prices, as reported here by aseanbriefing.com. Palm oil is used widely in Asia as cooking oil, and is added to many food products (see some of them in this list on The New Press). Palm oil is also used extensively in hygiene products such as soaps and shower gels. Food Hygiene And Safety IssuesRecently there have been a number of food safety incidents and product recalls, including:
Other IssuesReal vanilla has been in short supply, gradually getting worse and pushing prices sky high, for several years, as described here by The Economist. Changing Our DietThis report on the BBC describes possible changes to what we eat, to adapt the the rapidly changing world. All this is in addition to a likely and essential shift to eating less meat (to save the planet and our health), and to eating less overall (to combat obesity, diabetes and heart disease). |
Posted on 2nd May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sovereignty). |
I found the remarks by the Argentinian ambassador to the UK, as reported here by the BBC, to be naïve and ill informed. The ambassador said that the Falklands war is still an 'open wound' for the Argentinian people, as if it is not so for British people. Argentina strongly believes that the Falklands/Malvinas belong to them; the UK believes just as strongly that they belong to Britain. The clinching argument is that the people who live there consider themselves British and want to remain part of Britain. He also said that "he wants to re-engage with the UK government to discuss sovereignty"; does he really think that Britain is willing to negotiate away the ownership of the islands, ignoring the wishes of the residents, after having gone to war to defend the islands? The ambassador's justification for his belief that the UK is ready to negotiate over the sovereignty of the Falklands is that he is "completely sure that the new generation [do not] have any idea regarding the war or that Britain has a beef with Argentina regarding the South Atlantic,". This BBC story, published on the same day, demonstrates that this is not true; the headline is "General Belgrano: The opera singer who survived the sinking of the Argentine cruiser". For those of you who are neither British nor Argentine, the General Belgrano is not the name of the opera singer, but the name of the Argentine cruiser sunk by Britain during the Falklands war (with great loss of life), and the BBC clearly feels that this piece of history requires no better introduction in the headline, because all their readers are aware of it. The argument for the Falklands remaining British is the same as that for Gibraltar remaining British, and in contrast to the situation with Hong Kong (a former British territory abutting China) and Macau (a former Portuguese territory abutting China), where both populations were ethnically Chinese and did not, in general, identify as British/Portuguese. |
Posted on 1st May 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
According to this report on the BBC, Germany is taking Italy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop Italian courts hearing cases for compensation for Nazi war crimes during World War II, and to prevent those courts from seizing properties in Rome owned by the German government to finance any resulting compensation payments. I can understand the German position: there was a huge war-crimes trial in Nuremberg to determine blame, and since then Germany has paid billions in compensation. Germans still feel huge guilt for WWII, but are done with paying compensation. There was an ICJ ruling in 2012 that that determined civil claims by Nazi victims could not be brought against Germany in non-German courts (a few more details about that ICJ ruling can be found here, on Euronews), but Italy is not abiding by that ruling. Germany is the richest nation in Europe, contributing more to the EU budget than any other member, and bailing out various countries (Italy, Greece and several others) when they get into financial difficulties. I can see that flow of cash becoming much more restricted in future, if the claims for compensation don't stop. After all, even Germany is feeling the pinch due to the fallout from the Ukraine war (Germany doubled its military budget at a stroke because of the war) and the sanctions against Russia that followed. |
Posted on 24th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
The incident shown in this YouTube video, from 29th September 2019, is yet another example of American police officers seriously exceeding their authority. The man arrested, Michael Franchek, and his son, both knew their rights, repeatedly stated those rights to police officers, and complied with all legal requests and orders from the police, but it did them no good. The police officers illegally entered the house without a warrant, tased Mr. Franchek without adequate cause, roughly handcuffed him and arrested him, when no crime had been committed, with no grounds for believing that a crime had been committed. Some of the footage in the video is from police body-cams, and some was taken by Mr. Franchek's son; one of the officer's body-cams fell off during the incident because of that officer's own violence. At least it is legal to video the police in the U.S., whereas here in Germany it is against the law. Thankfully, two of the officers have now been fired, and a civil lawsuit is also in progress. Mr. Franchek will, however have to face criminal charges in a trial on 20th May 2022, according to this report on KPCW. All this just goes to show that one's rights are worth nothing when dealing with the police. At least in this case, the responsibility delegated to the police seems to fairly closely match the authority that they were delegated - i.e. they were made to answer for their illegal behaviour, unlike in this case. |
Posted on 17th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
Regular readers of this blog have probably noticed that one of my main news sources is the BBC. Just lately, however, the BBC app has become so bad as to be virtually unusable, not just on my mobile phone (not the latest model), but also on Sheryl's modern phone.
The BBC is a large corporation, with a large budget. The fact that they have advertisements on their App shows that they are generating revenue from the App. Why, then, do they have so many problems with the App? Their poor quality is driving readers and advertisers away, and is thus costing them money. |
Posted on 15th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Relaxed RegulationsCountries in the EU continue to relax Covid-related travel restrictions, as reported here on Schengen Visa Info. Germany has done away with the requirement for infected people and their direct contacts to quarantine, as reported here by Reuters. Instead, there is now "isolation", which is only for the people infected, and only for 5 days. The country has also relaxed the mask requirement in most shops (although not on public transport), as reported by Deutsche Welle. ImmunityThe chances of achieving immunity seems to have evaporated. As new more-infectious variants emerge and take hold, which can infect even fully vaccinated and recovered people, scientists are starting to realise that Covid is here to stay, and the best we can do is to limit the severity and and number of infections. Having said that, new research, reported here on Healthline, has shown that a combination of double or triple vaccination and infection with Covid provides fairly good protection, although not complete immunity. Also, this Israeli study, reported by Haaretz shows that a 4th vaccine dose cuts severe illness rates by three times compared to the triple-vaccinated. ProtectionDespite all the disinformation and conspiracy theories about mask wearing, new research, reported here on The Jerusalem Post, shows that a combination of social distancing by six feet, universal mask-wearing, and increased room ventilation provides protection against infection by Covid in 98% of cases. More worrying is that fact that the various Omicron variants are infectious before they are detectable with tests, and before symptoms are apparent, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. This makes it very difficult for people to protect themselves and others. TreatmentA recent study has shown that sabizabulin, a new oral medication from pharmaceutical company Veru has the potential to cut the virus’s mortality rate in half for moderate and severe cases, as reported by Fortune. The study was so successful that researchers stopped the trial early. Effects of Covid-19This report on the New Scientist (scroll down to the 7th April entry) describes the huge increase in the risk of blood clots after a Covid infection: a 33-fold increase of lung clots within a month of being infected and a 5-fold increase in the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) within 3 months of infection. This BBC report states that a higher risk of blood clots persists for at least 6 months. |
Posted on 14th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (War in Ukraine). |
The war in Ukraine is having a wide range of consequences throughout the world, most especially in Europe. Germany is under increasing pressure from their EU partners to stop buying Russian natural gas; Germany is the largest buyer in Europe of Russian gas (it gets about 55% of its gas supplies from Russia, and had planned to buy more once the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, now cancelled, was operational). Although the German government has not agreed, as the rest of the EU has, to stop Russian gas imports, it seems only a matter of time until they do. Once that happens, Germany is looking at energy shortages and major price rises, which are likely to result in many business closures, as reported here on The Guardian. One of the reasons touted by Russia for the invasion was to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO (probably not the main real reason, and certainly not the only reason). Russia has long been concerned about its neighbours joining NATO, but the invasion of Ukraine seems the have backfired in this regard: Sweden and Finland, as a result of Russia's actions, now seem ready to give up their neutral status and join NATO, as reported here by The Guardian. That has already had its own consequences, with Russia reportedly moving military equipment towards its border with Finland, as reported here on "Metro". Ukraine itself is now on a fast-track to joining the EU, as reported here on Deutsche Welle, and may yet join NATO (they have offered to negotiate this option away, but those negotiations made no headway - membership of NATO is now an objective stated in Ukraine's constitution). Ukraine, along with Russia, is one of the world's major wheat producing regions, and the war (and the sanctions against Russian) will mean less grain on world markets and higher prices. Those price hikes are on top of those already trickling through to consumers, caused by the Covid pandemic and general supply-chain issues. A significant part of the price rises that we can expect will also be due to increased energy prices, resulting from sanctions on oil purchases from Russia due to the war (the cost of transport is a significant part of the price od food and other consumer goods). There are also direct costs to many nations from the war in Ukraine. Many governments are sending large quantities of weapons to Ukraine, and many governments, especially Germany (see here on SIPRI) are increasing their military budgets. This increased spending will have an effect on national debt and taxes throughout the western world for many years to come. One of the most surprising aspects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is how well the Ukrainians are defending their country. This is in part due to their fierce commitment, but also in part due to the incompetence of the previously much feared Russian military machine: broken machines, bad leadership, poor troop morale, supply-line issues, etc. While this sounds like good news, at least in the short-term, it does in fact increase the risk of nuclear war; if Russia can't achieve its aims using conventional forces, it is more likely to escalate the conflict to a nuclear one, even if only to save face. There are also environmental impacts of the war. War is one of the most polluting human activities that there is. There will also need to be a huge rebuilding effort in Ukraine, which will cause environmental damage (concrete is now well known to cause lots of C02 pollution. Finally, the rebalancing of energy supplies, due to sanctions against Russia, will, in the near-term, lead to more use of oil and coal, with all the global warming and other environmental downsides that come with that. We will be living with the consequences of this war for years to come. |
Posted on 13th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
I feel thoroughly disheartened after reading this article on Womans World. Apparently, whte rice is better for us than brown rice, because brown rice contains the wrong kind of fibre/fiber (roughage to us Brits). My partner, Sheryl has been trying valiantly to make our diet healthier, and that included a short-lived experiment with brown rice (which we gave up because we simply didn't like the taste). The matter of which kind of rice is healthier is only one of a huge list of food and drink items where books and the Internet are full of contradictory advice. That list includes:
The advice is changing constantly, and it is impossible to keep up. My advice? Everything in moderation. |
Posted on 13th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
This report on "The Next Web" warns people about something worrying, even though it should be obvious to people who have a modicum of technical know-how: when you are in a video-conference, muting in the app will only prevent other conference participants from hearing you. The app/service provider is able to listen to anything you say, and record it or analyse it with an AI program. That does not mean that they are eavesdropping, but it is technically possible; it reminds us all of how much trust we are placing in the likes of Zoom and Microsoft (suppliers of Teams and Skype). I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want someone recording or analysing my speech when I am muted. It is an invasion of privacy. You might think that, having muted, you can safely swear about your boss, or talk about something that is not intended for public knowledge with someone else in the room with you, but this is clearly not the case. Luckily, as the article points it, it is still possible to mute, by muting the device, not the app. For example, many headsets mute if you raise the microphone; alternatively you can use your operating system functionality to mute the microphone locally (how you do this depends on what operating system and version you have). |
Posted on 8th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
There is a reason why computer experts recommend that you have cybersecurity software and processes, as demonstrated by this story (reported here on The Register). Apparently the Andra Pradesh Mahesh Co-Operative Urban Bank's firewall licence had expired (at least they had one, which maybe still worked, but there would have been no more updates), and they had no phishing protection, intrusion detection system or intrusion prevention system. It is therefore no surprise that they got hacked, resulting in a significant amount of money being stolen. I feel sorry for their customers, who were probably assured that the bank had comprehensive cybersecurity systems and processes in place. For your computer systems to be secure, you need to be paranoid. For example, if you are reading this on my web-site, your access is through 3 different firewalls. That paranoia should extend to not sharing details with your friends, family, colleagues or employer of what kind of cybersecurity you have in place (notice that I didn't tell you what and where my 3 firewalls are). Even for securing your home computers, you need to be paranoid: at the very minimum, firewalls and antivirus programs, both regularly updated; and scan your systems regularly. Another thing you might want to look into is your Internet modem. In the old days, when all traffic ran over IPv4, all your home systems (servers, desktops, laptops, NAS, mobile phones and Internet of Things smart devices) were hidden from public view by NAT routing in the Internet modem. Then IPv6 was introduced: older IPv6 capable Internet modems (like the Techicolor TC7200) offered no firewall protection of IPv6 devices on your home network; they were all visible and accessible to anyone on the Internet; newer Internet modems like the FritzBox 7590 have IPv6 firewalling. You can find out by reading the manufacturer's user handbook, or checking the administration interface (if it has a section to allow your IPv6 devices to be accessed from the Internet, which you would need to do for a web-server or email-server, then it has an IPv6 firewall). |
Posted on 8th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
This article on the BBC reports of the recent decision by prosecutors in Minneapolis to file no charges against any of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Amir Locke, who was killed during the execution of another of these no-knock warrants (similar to the shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky). We should all be very worried by this decision. What it means is that police officers are neither responsible nor answerable for their actions, or for any lack of action. Responsibility and answerability are at the very core of people management. In order to safely and effectively delegate tasks to subordinates, it is essential that the appropriate levels of responsibility and answerability are delegated, along with the actual task, and that matching levels of authority are likewise delegated. Often, in jobs other than law enforcement, the problem with such delegation is that insufficient authority to do the task is delegated. In the case of police officers, particularly in the USA, it seems that their authority far exceeds the level of responsibility and answerability that comes with that delegation of tasks; the carrying of guns by by those police officers is the most obvious evidence of the scale of the authority that they are given, but there are many other ways in which they have huge authority. The bottom line is that, in the case of police officers, either the level of responsibility and answerability must be increased to match the level of authority, or the level of authority be decreased to match the level of responsibility and answerability (e.g. by taking away their guns). At the root of this problem is a failure of management by the people in charge of law enforcement: senior officers and government. If the officers involved in cases like Amir Locke's and Breonna Taylor's are not considered to be responsible for the consequences of their actions, then those in charge must be held accountable, otherwise there the police force is nothing more than a bunch of armed vigilantes. The current situation cannot be allowed to stand. |
Posted on 7th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Scams). |
There is a constant stream of scams trying to trick us out of our hard-earned money. Luckily, they are mostly pretty transparent. The days of the Nigerians claiming to control funds (usually millions) that they want our help transferring out of their country, for which they need our bank account details, are thankfully now largely over. There are still cases of people stealing money by advertising something (usually a second-hand car), then asking the potential buyer to prove that they have the money by transferring the funds to themselves via Western Union, which the scammer then collects before the buyer can do so. A friend of ours was tricked in this way. This scam is only possible because Western Union does not enforce the transferrer's security requirements, such as proof of identity and a security question. Western Union has refused to take any responsibility for these cases, and the police seem unwilling to help. At the moment I am getting a lot of calls to tell me that I have won a prize in some competition that I never entered. The prize usually includes cash, but can also include fully paid vacations. The catch is that, in order to claim your prize, you have to subscribe to something, typically a newspaper, paid for by a direct debit from my bank account. I am surprised that such scams are apparently legal in Germany. I have to be very persistent in saying no to these scams; once or twice is never enough. Today I experienced a new scam. I received a call from a German mobile number, in bad English (not a person, but a synthesised voice), claiming to be about an international police investigation (this was used to justify the call being in English), telling me that I should act now to avoid losing my house, and to press "1" to speak to the federal police. I know that the German police would always speak German, at least at the start of a call, and that no foreign law enforcement agency is legally allowed to cold-call residents of Germany (they would have to make any contact through the German police). I was not even slightly worried by the call; since I do not own a house, no-one can take it. Nevertheless, I can imagine that some people, on receiving such a call, would be extremely worried. |
Posted on 6th April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (ISPs). |
A friend living in the USA recently sent me a link to this article ("Nearly 1 in 4 Households Don’t Have Internet—and a Quarter Million Still Use Dial-Up"). Frankly, I was shocked. Here in Europe we have complaints about our ISPs, but what we have is way better than what some Americans have (or don't have). My friend has a wife who works from home, so he has to be very careful what he does online during her work hours, otherwise she can't work. As far as I can tell, their service is too slow for streaming services like Netflix. They only have IPv4, not IPv6. Their bandwidth is throttled because there are customers with more influence on the same spur of the connection. He might be better off with a length of wet string, or maybe with carrier pigeons! Seriously, he should perhaps look into Elon Musk's StarLink satellite-based Internet service. |
Posted on 3rd April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Social Media). |
This report on the BBC is primarily about Facebook users who are angry that their accounts have been locked for no apparent reason. It does, however, highlight a common misunderstanding about Facebook, that it is a service for the likes of you and me. Facebook is a service for advertisers and for customers who are willing to pay for personal data about their users. Individual users are not valued by Facebook, and the company does not consider them to have any rights other than those enforced by regulators. Users are a source of revenue, pure and simple. Everything else follows from these basic facts:
I do use Facebook, in a limited way. I post little, do not expect anything that I post to be securely stored, and will not post my photos (because their terms and conditions state that I grant them ownership of the copyright of anything that I upload). The main reason that I use it is as a source of humour. I have better sources for news, opinions, music and video trailers (as do we all!). Have no illusions: other Social Media resources are no better. |
Posted on 1st April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on the BBC reports about how the UK government has redefined what constitutes a heatwave, in 8 counties, raising the temperature limit by 1°C. The rationale given by The Met Office is that the limit is based on historical temperatures, and because of global warming, high temperatures have become more normal, and declaring a heatwave should require higher temperatures. I am not buying into this explanation. The question that needs to be asked is "What is the purpose of declaring or forecasting a heatwave?" If it is simply to mark the event in some list of temperature records, then fine; if the purpose is for the protection of health, then the rational makes no sense. People did not become more tolerant of high temperatures just because we have had more of them recently, and still need to be warned to avoid going out during the hottest times of day, to drink plenty of water (and to take water with them when they go out), to dress appropriately for the weather, to not leave their pets or children locked in cars, etc. High temperatures have effects not only on people, but also on equipment (trains, motor vehicles, freezers, refrigerators, manufacturing equipment, computers and office air conditioning), and the temperature limits of such equipment have not magically increased simply because the government has changed its definition of what it considers a heatwave. Where is the government sponsored initiative to make such equipment more tolerant of high temperatures? This sounds like the government using the added flexibility that it now has after Brexit, to set health related standards as it finds convenient, to avoid inconvenient and costly impacts of hot weather, such as school and office closures. I haven't read of any similar changes to the definitions of a heatwave within the EU, nor do I expect to. When will UK voters realise that their government simply doesn't care about them? |
Posted on 1st April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
According to this report by Tech Radar,, Microsoft have sneakily backtracked on a change they introduced with Windows 11 which made it very hard to change your default browser. The original change meant that users had to separately set the default browser for each type of file that a browser might open (e.g. .htm, .html, .pl, .pdf, .aspx, to name but a few - to see a more extensive list, see here). This was a very time consuming task, and complex enough to discourage many users. The latest update allows users to change their default browser with a single click. It should be remembered that Microsoft only introduced the ability for users to change the default browser because they were forced to by the EU. By making it much harder to make this change, Microsoft were trying to bypass the intent of the agreement that they made with the EU. I suspect that Microsoft's legal department realised that they were running the risk of the EU case against them being reopened, or maybe they were warned by the EU. I suspect that many of you don't care much which browser you use, but sometimes there are good reasons to care:
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Posted on 1st April 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
The BBC reports that "some British farmers are calling for a ban on the UK production of toxic weedkiller Paraquat, saying studies suggest it could be a factor in the onset of Parkinson's Disease." It sounds to me like there is a case to be seriously considered, but it seems unlikely that the UK government will ban this pesticide without more conclusive research. After all, the pesticide industry is a powerful lobby group in the UK and around the world. The very least that the government should do is to urgently consider the necessary research, so that an informed decision can be made. |
Posted on 29th March 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
This report on "The Brighter Side Of News" describes the development by scientists at the University of California San Diego of a treatment for chronic pain which is not based on opioids. The treatment uses CRISPR/Cas9 methods which are normally used for gene therapy, but in this case, no changes are made to the patients' genes; instead, the treatment temporarily inactivates a protein in pain-transmitting neurons, reducing sensitivity to pain. The effects last up to 44 weeks. The treatment is administered as an injection (e.g. to the spine), rather than as a tablet. Obviously, the new treatment needs to be tested on humans (so far it has only been tested on mice), and then go through proper formal clinical trials, so it will be a while before we can get it from our doctors, but the impact could be huge. Very many people suffer from chronic pain, e.g. in the lower back, neck and shoulders, affecting their ability to work and their enjoyment of life. At the moment, such pain is treated with over-the-counter pain killers like ibuprofen and paracetamol (neither of which are very effective against severe pain) or opioids (which are addictive, and also directly impact the ability to work and drive). |
Posted on 29th March 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
This article on New Atlas describes a study on mice in which a "marshmallow-like" scaffold loaded with the patients' own T-cells that have been programmed to fight cancer is inserted into the body. This type of immunotherapy proved faster and more potent against the cancer in the mouse subjects than other immunotherapies. |
Posted on 29th March 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
A new study, reported on "Science" has suggested that men who take Metformin, a drug prescribed for Type 2 Diabetes, may suffer from damaged sperm. Specifically, the sperm can suffer from genetic defects affecting the sexual organs of sons, if Metformin is taken long term. The caveat of long term use of Metformin is no encouragement, since this drug is only prescribed for long term use. The study is an observational meta-study (a study of the results of other studies), which doesn't prove a cause and effect relationship, and the results need to be confirmed by further studies. Nevertheless, the study analysed records from more than 1.1 million babies born in Denmark between 1997 and 2016, which is a large enough sample to be taken seriously. The article describes the defects as "relatively rare", but I don't think that most people would consider 0.9% to be rare. The scientists "cautioned men with diabetes against abruptly stopping metformin before trying to conceive", which is an entirely sensible warning. Another aspect of the report was very worrying. Although Metformin "has been in use since the 1950s", "this is the first large study to rigorously analyze any paternally mediated impact on human birth defects". I wonder how many other drugs are in use which have not been properly studied. There are some parallels here with the Thalidomide scandal (Thalidomide was also sold under the brand-name Contergan, as a treatment for morning sickness, although it has other uses). |
Posted on 14th March 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (ISPs). |
On Thursday (10th March) my new fibre-optic-based Internet connection from M-Net was finally connected. There were some delays because my apartment's DSL cable (used to connect the last few feet from the fibre-optic terminal to my apartment) was not connected; once that was sorted out, I had to book a new appointment to connect my Internet. I ordered a business package including a static IP address. This package is described on M-Net's web-site as suitable for small businesses who have their own web-site(s). Since the installation, although the IPv4 address has remained unchanged, the IPv6 address prefix has changed 3 times in 4 days, so I called M-Net's customer service line to complain. I was informed today that only the IPv4 address is static; the IPv6 address changes every time the Internet modem is restarted, plus in between, any time that M-Net feel like changing it. There are no plans to make the IPv6 static (unless customers have a much more expensive plan); even though IPv4 is gradually being phased out in favour of IPv6. I do not see how such a service is suitable for small businesses with their own web-sites. Sounds like false advertising to me. The option of having static IP addresses is the main reason I changed my ISP, and I feel cheated. In case any readers in Munich are thinking of changing ISP to M-Net, you should beware; you need to be sure that you can manage with only your IPv4 address being static. |
Posted on 28th February 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia continues to dominate the news. The world is surprised that the Ukrainians are holding out as well as they are; personally, I expected that it would all be over within 48 hours. According to this report on The Sun, a Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of Kyiv, and Magomed Tushaev, the top Chechen general leading the column was reported by Meaww as having been killed. Russia is becoming frustrated by their slow progress, and have now put their nuclear forces on special alert (here, on the BBC). The west is sending weapons to the Ukrainians, but no soldiers (western governments are to worried that sending armed forces would escalate into all-out Europe-wide war), but some governments are supporting (even encouraging) their citizens to go to fight to defend Ukraine, as reported here on the BBC. I know a Ukrainian living in Germany who is seriously considering going back to fight for his home country; not an uncommon scenario. Instead of sending troops, the world is concentrating on vicious and wide ranging sanctions and other non-military actions:
All this begs the question: if the sanctions are proving so effective, why did the west not act with such vigour after Russian annexed Crimea? The inaction by the western nations made Russia believe that we did not care about Ukraine and what the Russians did there. If action had been taken over Crimea, the current invasion of Ukraine would perhaps not have happened. There are parallels here with the invasion of The Falklands by Argentina. Britain, with one of the world's most skilled and experienced diplomatic corps, somehow failed to give Argentina the impression that Britain would defend the islands. It is hard to believe that Argentina got the wrong understanding by accident, so were they suckered into a war (a war which gave a major popularity boost to Margaret Thatcher's faltering government)? Were the Russians similarly suckered into invading Ukraine, by being led to believe that the west didn't care? |
Posted on 20th February 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sexual Equality). |
This report on "At The Buzzer" describes Michael Phelps' opinion about transgender athletes. In case anyone doesn't know, Michael Phelps should be considered an expert on sports, being the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time. Although he points out that the issue is complicated, he is basically against them competing against cisgender athletes, and believes there should be a level playing field in sports, which is not the case when cisgender athletes are required to compete against transgender athletes. Giving a higher priority to the acceptance of people's gender identity is what is creating this uneven playing field. Of course, opinion is divided, as you can see from the comments on this Facebook post. |
Posted on 13th February 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Relaxed Travel RegulationsCountries are gradually accepting that the Omicron variant, despite being much more infectious, is less dangerous, at least for vaccinated people. As a result, various nations are adapting their control strategies, based on the number of Covid-19 hospital admissions, rather than the number of infections, and relaxing travel restrictions:
Long CovidAnecdotal evidence (based on the experience of only two patients) suggests that over-the counter antihistamines, commonly used to treat allergies such as hay fever, can alleviate the symptoms of long Covid, as reported here by Science Alert. It is not clear whether this is a cure, or whether one would need to keep taking the medications to remain symptom-free. Woman's World suggests that the herb rosemary may also help in dealing with long covid (personally, I am not a great believer in herbal remedies, but if you are suffering from long covid, it is probably worth trying). The BBC reports that some people suffering from long covid have serious hidden lung damage. Side-Effects of Covid-19New Atlas reports a "massive analysis of health records has revealed recovered COVID-19 patients are at a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular complications in the year following an acute infection. IvermectinMarket Watch reports of the saga of falsified data behind some people's false belief that ivermectin is effective in treating Covid-19. |
Posted on 3rd January 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Tougher Travel RegulationsInternational travel continues to get more difficult. The BBC reports that, from the 10th January, the UAE (United Arab Emirates) will ban citizens who have not had three doses of a vaccine against Covid-19 from travelling abroad. As of the 24th of December only 34% had received the booster jab. Schengen Visa Info reports that all people arriving in Czechia (the Czech Republic) from other countries, irrespective of their vaccination status, must undergo a COVID-19 PCR test, starting from 27th of December. Also on Schengen Visa Info, Norway will, from 20th of December, require arrivals from Romania, the Azores and some regions of Italy, Finland & Sweden to quarantine. Again, on Schengen Visa Info, from the 21st of December, all arrivals in Sweden from the EU and EEA countries are required to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination, recovery from the illness within the previous six months, or negative results of a test performed in the last 72 hours before arrival. Also on Schengen Visa Info, the EU has announced that it is limiting the validity of COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates to only 9 Months (270 days), effective from the 1st of February 2022. Yet again, on Schengen Visa Info, “All travellers from the age of 12 years from outside the EU/Schengen need to provide a negative COVID-19 test result for travel to the Netherlands. This needs to be a NAAT/PCR test with the sample taken a maximum of 48 hours before departure or an antigen test with the sample taken a maximum of 24 hours before departure. This includes travellers with proof of vaccination or recovery”. Other Health RegulationsDW (Deutsche Welle) reports that Germany will limit private gatherings after Christmas, to dissuade people from holding and attending large New Year's Eve celebrations. Specifically, a maximum of 10 people who have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 will be allowed to attend a private gathering. In cases when an unvaccinated person is present, only one other household will be allowed to attend. The new participation limits will apply to both indoor and outdoor celebrations. Access to restaurants remains limited to people who can provide proof of vaccination or recovery. From the 28th of December, spectators will be banned from sporting events, cultural shows, concerts and other large public events. All this is in addition to the general ban on fireworks, on both Germany and the Netherlands, announced in December. VaccinesThe BBC reports that Israel, which has from the beginning of the pandemic been ahead of the curve, is starting to give a fourth dose of vaccine to over 60s. The New Scientist reports that the protection against the Omicron variant provided by the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines begins to wane within 10 weeks. This is likely to mean that everyone will need to have even more frequent boosters (Germany has already reduced the recommended interval from 6 months to 5 months, and will probably reduce it even more in the coming months). VariantsThe Delta and Omicron variants have already supplanted other variants almost everywhere, with Omicron now out-competing Delta. The BBC reports a summary of the mix of good news and bad news about Omicron. The BBC reports that the Omicron variant is milder than previous variants. This risk of hospitalisation if you catch Omicron is 30% to a 70% reduced (the 70% figure applies to fully vaccinated people), but there is double the chance of catching it. Natural ImmunityThe Daily Mail reports that some (a very few) people seem to be naturally immune, even without vaccination or previous infection. Obviously, scientists are very interested in this phenomenon. It would be nice to know how this immunity works, and to be able to use it as the basis of a vaccine or treatment, but that seems a long way off. Treatments and PreventionThis report on New Atlas describes the growing scandal and disappointment surrounding molnupiravir, a drug developed by Merck and issued emergency use authorisation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Now the FDA is calling the authorisation the "worst decision in its history". Molnupiravir’s Phase 3 data revealed a stark drop in efficacy, down to levels bordering on insignificant. There are also now questions about the drug’s safety. Luckily, there are alternative treatments. This report on the BBC describes a trial by Australian researchers to see whether squirting a blood thinner into the nose could offer protection against Covid. The nasal spray uses the cheap drug heparin in an attempt to neutralise Covid's spike protein. The heparin in the nasal spray is not absorbed into the bloodstream, so there are no blood-thinning side-effects from using the spray. When sprayed into the nose of a Covid-infected person it appears to make them non-infectious, the researchers say. |
Posted on 21st December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
A recent ransomware attack on Kronos (reported on here by the BBC) highlights the risks of using online services for business critical functions. Kronos provide cloud-based services for workforce management and human capital management, which includes payroll services. Due to the attack, a number of large businesses, including Sainsbury's (a large UK supermarket chain), were unable to process their payroll. Large corporations like to outsource, including to online service providers like Kronos and Kaseya (read about the Kayeya incident here), because there are cost advantages. The downside, however, is the increased risk of loss of service. A large online or cloud-based service provider is a larger and more interesting target for hackers; why spend time and effort attacking one company, when you can with the same effort attack a service provider and impact many companies? This is why there are so many of these kinds of attack at the moment; almost all attacks target either service providers, providers of software used by many organisations or large multi-site organisations like healthcare provides and government agencies. There are, of course, contingency measures that one can take to protect against an attack on one's service providers, although they all have a cost. For example have a fallback service provider, to whom you send the same data, whether payroll, print or backup service data. When one's primary provider is hacked, you will be ready to go with an alternative. |
Posted on 8th December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
There has been an avalanche of Covid news in the last few days, so I thought I should post another update. Tougher Health RegulationsThis update on Schengen Visa Info reports that, from January 2022, Czechia (previously known as the Czech Republic) is reducing the validity of COVID-19 vaccination certificates to only nine months. Croatia and Austria have taken similar action. This article on the BBC reports that Italy has toughened restrictions for unvaccinated people, making many public activities off limits to anyone without a so-called Covid Super Green Pass from Monday this week. The city of New York has mandated that all New Yorkers must be vaccinated in order to go to work, as reported here by the BBC. VaccinesThere is very mixed data on the effectiveness of the various vaccines against the Omicron variant. The BBC reports, here, that the WHO have said that existing vaccines should still protect people who contract the Omicron variant from severe Covid cases, although laboratory tests of the new variant in South Africa suggest it can partially evade the Pfizer jab, as reported here by The Daily Mail. This report on Science.org gives similar data. The Guardian reports, here, that following a first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine with a second dose of either the Moderna or the Novavax immunisation yields far higher levels of neutralising antibodies and T-cells compared with two doses of the AstraZeneca jab. This CNN report describes similar results with a Johnson & Johnson booster vaccination followed by the Pfizer jab. This supports previous data on mixing vaccines brands. This report on The Guardian gives us an idea of which people are not vaccinated in the UK. New VariantsThere is some preliminary data suggesting that the Omicron variant, although much more infectious, leads to less severe illness (here, on New Atlas) and that Omicron is rapidly displacing Delta and other variants (here, on City A.M.). If this turns out to be true, it would bear out predictions by some experts that Covid-19 will become more like the 'flu or common cold: endemic and less severe. This article on Gloucestershire Live warns that the symptoms of the Omicron variant are different to those of other variants, and explains how to spot if you have caught it. Social Distancing and MasksThis article on Digg reports on an interesting study on the effectiveness of social distancing and masks in preventing Covid-19 infections. The conclusion is that social distancing alone is ineffective, but that wearing a mask is much better, and wearing a mask as well as social distancing gives very high levels of protection. The UnvaccinatedThis sad, but rather unsurprising, story on the Stoke Sentinel reports on a UK woman whose baby died of Covid-19 shortly after birth, because the woman decided not to get vaccinated. That is the price of believing disinformation: Darwinism in action. |
Posted on 5th December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
This report on Forbes.com again shows how bad Microsoft are at protecting their customers. The article contains a list of bugs, some of them repaired for some operating system versions, and some not. Importantly two of the bugs are problems resulting from applying Microsoft updates/upgrades; the recommendation is to not install certain updates, and to remove them if you already installed them. Why does Microsoft find it so hard to keep customers' systems safe and working? I would argue that the basic design of Windows (7, 10 & 11) is inherently insecure and unreliable. This is why I use Linux (largely free from malware, higher performance, with mostly free software and updates done only if/when you agree). |
Posted on 5th December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Politics). |
This article on Wired reports on the UK government's new programme to sequence the genome of babies. Initially this would be a trial programme involving just 100,000 to 200,000 babies, but would eventually be extended to include all babies born in the UK. This plan has been in the offing since an announcement in 2019 by Matt Hancock, who was at the time the UK health secretary. The stated purpose of this genetic sequencing (identifying and treating genetic diseases) is very laudable, but experts have pointed out that such a programme could lead to a whole host of ethical concerns. Nevertheless the government is pressing ahead without discussing these. It makes me suspect that there is some other agenda behind this scheme. The babies’ genomes will be anonymised and then added to the UK’s National Genomic Research Library, where the data can be mined by researchers and commercial health companies. That all sounds right and fine until one remembers that the UK government has previously had accidental releases of non-anonymised versions of personal health data; clearly governments can't be trusted to keep our private data secure. Personally, I am very concerned about personal health data being mined by commercial health companies. There have already been cases where the genomes of individuals have been patented by health companies, so I am pretty certain that is what will happen with some of these babies' genomes. People are living organisms, and have a tendency to breed. Does that mean that, if my DNA has been patented by someone, I need to pay for a licence to have children, and that, if I have donated to a sperm bank, people would have to pay for a licence to use my sperm? These scenarios are not such a far stretch of the imagination, given that Monsanto (now owned by Bayer) has sued farmers found to have naturally and accidentally propagated offspring of Monsanto's patented crop lines on their land. My personal view is that my DNA is my intellectual property, which can't be owned by someone else unless I sell it, and the legality of such a sale is itself questionable bearing in mind the rights that my living ancestors and offspring also have to parts of my DNA. Sadly, I don't expect my rights to my own DNA will be upheld by the courts, although that it yet to be fully legally tested. |
Posted on 11th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
I don't think this headline on the BBC is quite right. It should read "Boeing tries, and fails, to refute new safety concerns". In one example of safety issues a 737 Max was on a flight from Boeing Field airport in Seattle, to deliver the aircraft to Brussels. After problems emerged, it returned to its point of departure. The article says "The aircraft landed safely shortly afterwards". Again, I think that is incorrect; just because it landed successfully does not mean it landed safely. From a safety perspective the 737 Max is so broken as to not be worth repairing. The design was, from the outset, deeply flawed. No amount of "band-aid" will make it safe. Boeing should bite the bullet and scrap the plane, and compensate the unfortunate airlines who bought them. |
Posted on 5th December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
This article on the BBC reports on the acquittal of a coach accused of domestic violence against French Olympic judo champion Margaux Pinot. She was badly assaulted (see the photos) and is probably lucky to have escaped with her life. Nevertheless, the man was acquitted. One of the case's three judges said there was not "enough proof of guilt". He also said "A court is never there to tell who is telling the truth and who is lying". What? In most criminal cases, the defendant pleads not guilty, in which case the core of the role of the court is precisely what this judge said it is not: to decide who is telling the truth and who is lying. This judge is clearly an idiot and should be fired. |
Posted on 4th December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Tougher Health RegulationsThis BBC article reports that Ireland is closing nightclubs and the hospitality sector faces tighter rules over Christmas as the government tries to curb the spread of Covid-19. Indoor events such as concerts and sports fixtures must operate at no more than 50% capacity and private home visits must involve no more than four households. Germany is, as reported by the BBC, barring the unvaccinated from much of public life: restaurants, cinemas, leisure facilities and many shops. Angela Merkel also recently said, in a speech, that there could be a national vaccine mandate in Germany from February 2022. This update on Schengen Visa Info describes tighter restrictions on travel to EU countries, especially for the unvaccinated. VaccinesPfizers's chief executive Dr. Albert Bourla was recently speaking to the BBC (before the discovery of the Omicron variant). He said that we will probably need annual Covid jabs for years to come (as I predicted back in 2020), as with the 'flu shot. Dr Bourla also said that Pfizer had already developed updated vaccines in response to the Beta and Delta variants, but that they had not been needed. The company is now working on an updated vaccine that will be more effective against the Omicron variant that could be ready in 100 days (which is pretty impressive). One of the problems with Pfizers's vaccine, especially for developing nations, has always been the need for it to be stored at -70°C, but within a month or so, Pfizer says it will roll out a new formulation of the vaccine that can be stored for three months in a normal fridge, which Dr Bourla said, would make a "huge difference" for sub-Saharan African countries. New VariantsThis piece on the BBC discusses whether low rates of vaccinations could be responsible for the emergence of the new Omicron variant. The opinion seems to be that there is not yet enough evidence to prove the case, but that it seems likely. In a population of totally unvaccinated people, mutations of the coronavirus confer little advantage; in a population with high vaccination rates, virus transmission rates are greatly reduced which limits the opportunity for mutation; but in a population with low to medium vaccination rates there is plenty of opportunity for mutations to arise (because transmission rates are still high) and mutations confer advantages to the virus. So, you unvaccinated people are probably responsible for the Delta, Delta+ and Omicron variants. |
Posted on 29th November 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Tougher Health RegulationsCovid-19 continues to rampage across Europe, causing most nations to toughen their control regulations:
In answer to those people who feel that lockdowns and vaccine mandates impinge on their rights and freedoms, the Austrian Chancellor said in a recent speech that "You don’t only have rights, you have obligations". Well said! VaccinesAs many nations roll out booster vaccinations, this article on The Daily Beast reports on several studies which conclude that, at least in the case of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, people should have been given three doses to have full protection (in other words, the third dose should not be seen as a booster at all). This is similar to the conclusion that the Johnson & Johnson is not, after all, a one shot vaccine, but requires two doses for full protection. Other studies have shown that you are better protected if you mix vaccination types, e.g. two shots of Pfizer and one shot of Moderna. TreatmentsNew treatments continue to emerge. This report on Euronews describes a nasal spray, currently in trials, which is very effective in preventing infection by the coronavirus. This report on Science Alert describes a new antiviral (thapsigargin), also still undergoing trials, which is very effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in all its variants. Both of the above will take a while to pass their tests and, if they pass, to become available, but are a good sign of progress. New VariantsThe world is mainly focused on the Delta variant of Covid-19, but Delta+ is already with us, and in the last few days news has come about the Omicron variant (reported on here, by the BBC), which seems to be even more dangerous. It has a total of 50 mutations, with more than 30 of them on the spike protein. The spike protein is the part of the virus that all our current vaccines target, leading to concerns that our vaccines will be less effective against Omicron. |
Posted on 17th November 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
![]() The information in this post is taken from the Schengen Visa Info New web-site, this report on The BBC, this report on The BBC, this report on The Financial Times, this report on Orillia Matters and other sources. In summary, cases are rising all across Europe. Hospital beds are either full or filling up fast, and governments have realised that they need to take firm action quickly. Even the UK, which was feeling rather cocky due to falling case numbers a week ago, has experience an uptick. Travel rules have been tightened all across Europe, with more countries being added to the red-lists of many nations, and stricter entry requirements for vaccination or tests. Austria has imposed a lockdown for its two million unvaccinated citizens. The Netherlands has started a nationwide lockdown, with non-essential shops being closed, and earlier closing times for all shops. In Germany, where Covid regulations are set by each state (Lände) government, many are considering bringing in lockdowns for the unvaccinated, and FFP2 masks are again required to enter shops or use public transport (for a while, ordinary medical masks were sufficient). Many public venues, bars and restaurants will only allow people who are vaccinated or recently recovered (a recent negative test is no longer enough): the so-called 2G (geimpft or geheilt) rule instead of the 3G (geimpft, geheilt or getestet) rule. Many nations are now encouraging their citizens to get a booster jab. Things are likely to get much worse before they get better. |
Posted on 17th November 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Earlier this week I called my mother, who is now living with one of my sisters (in New Zealand). My sister refuses to get the Covid-19 vaccine; my mother, thank goodness, is fully vaccinated. We ended up talking for a while about my sister's refusal of the vaccine (which means that she has to leave her job at the end of this week). At one point she said "What Are Unvaccinated People So Afraid Of?" The question suggests that she, and presumably other unvaccinated people, believe that vaccinated people are fully protected by the vaccines. Well, for anyone not able to work it out for themselves, here are the answers: Lower Risk is not Zero RiskAlthough the risk of serious illness, hospitalisation or even death for vaccinated people is significantly lower, that risk is not zero. Unvaccinated people are the main source of Covid-19 infections. By refusing to get vaccinated, they are putting everyone, including the vaccinated, at real risk. Some People Are Not Well-Protected By A VaccinationVaccination against Covid-19 is less effective in higher risk people. Such high-risk groups include:
This is because vaccines work by training one's immune system to recognise and fight off infections, and compromised immune systems do this less well. Covid-19 has Serious Consequences even for the UnvaccinatedIn most countries, if you catch Covid-19, even if you have no symptoms whatsoever, you will have two weeks of mandatory quarantine. That means that you can't go to work, go shopping, or go out for a meal or drinks. Typically, any family members with whom you live will also be quarantined. Quarantine is a major inconvenience that I can do without. The Unvaccinated Breed New VariantsUnvaccinated people are known to be the main breeding ground amongst whom new variants evolve. Already we have variants of the virus (e.g. Delta and Delta+) which are not only more virulent, but also not so well controlled by vaccines. It is only a matter of time before an even worse mutation evolves, that may render the existing vaccines ineffective. By refusing to get vaccinated, they are hastening that evolution and, again, putting everyone at risk. |
Posted on 26th December 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
In this article on the BBC, Maureen Lipman is quoted as saying that comedy is in danger of being "wiped out" due to fears over being cancelled. I tend to agree. I recently watched Jimmy Carr: His Dark Material on Netflix; Jimmy Carr felt it necessary to point out several times the difference between a thing itself (e.g. rape) and making a joke about it, which should be totally unnecessary. Some comedians are now afraid to make jokes about certain topics, and comedy is the worse for it. I also recently watched an interview by a CNN journalist of Trevor Noah, where he was taken to task for some of the language that he uses, because it could be interpreted as racist. Trevor Noah is clearly not anti-black; he is, after all, half black himself. The problem is clearly with the interpretation, not comedy itself; if people have an inability to properly interpret in the light of the context, they should stop watching comedy, instead of trying to stop those of us with no such limitations from watching it. JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, has been heavily criticised a lot recently. People accuse her of being trans-phobic because she has expressed concern about the unfairness of trans athletes competing against non-trans women in sport. One of the latest developments in this sorry saga is reported here by the BBC: that two Quidditch leagues in the USA are changing their names because they do not wish to be associated with JK Rowling (QuidditchUK looks like they may follow suit). Quidditch is a game invented by the author in her Harry Potter books; the Quidditch leagues in question did not licence the use of the name "Quidditch" from JK Rowling, and any association was of their own making. If you doubt that trans athletes competing against non-trans women can (sometimes) be unfair, you should read this article on The Daily Signal, and also here. I don't understand why this is so hard for some people to accept: the science is clear, and the examples given by The Daily Signal are also very clear. Political correctness is supposed to be about the avoidance of unwarranted offence, but in the face of irrefutable evidence, political correctness must not prevent truth being spoken. The result, as suggested by The Daily Signal, could be to drive women out of many sports. |
Posted on 29th November 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
In this BBC article, Eddie Redmayne tries very hard to sit on the fence regarding the issue of actors playing roles whose sexual identity doesn't match their own. He says it was a mistake to a play trans role in the movie "The Danish Girl", released in 2015. Well yes, there is a lot of that kind of thing in the acting world. Cisgender actors playing trans roles and straight actors playing gay roles. What really annoys me is the Star Wars movies and spin-off TV series: how many of the alien characters were actually played by aliens? Just in case any readers have not worked it out, I am being sarcastic. We have a word in the English language for people who play roles that are in some way different from who those people really are: actors! Even Eddie Redmayne referred to this, when he said that any actor "should be able to play any sort of part ..." If we take this lie of reasoning to it logical conclusion we would have to have:
Are we going to outlaw pantomimes (an English tradition) because of the pantomime dames? Where do we draw the line? If it is wrong for straight actors to play gay roles, how is it OK for gay actors to play straight roles (which is how most gay actors learn their trade)? I want to see movies and TV shows in which the characters are well played and believable, which means picking the best available actor for the role. Please leave PC considerations out of the casting decisions. |
Posted on 16th November 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on The Times reports that the head of Natural England has said that food and water should be taxed at a higher rate "to account for the costs of tackling climate change, waste, obesity and pollution". This seems to me to be a no-brainer. Yes, all goods and services should be taxed to include the environmental impacts of providing them, and that means pretty much all should cost more. Why should people who do not consume certain things subsidise those who do; why should vegetarians subsidise meat eating; why should people who don't drive or fly subsidise those who do? I say subsidise because all of us suffer the consequences of climate change and pollution, and all of us will end up paying for environmental clean-up through future taxation. |
Posted on 4th November 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
This story on the BBC is rather worrying. The report is about a decision by the Australian government that Clearview AI must remove all photos taken in Australia from their facial recognition database, and stop collecting anymore such photos. Leaving aside the arguments about the invasion of privacy posed by facial recognition, this decision seems to be extreme overreach by the Australians. If I go to Australia, and while there take a photo of someone who is also not resident in Australia, the government there clearly believes that they have the right to decide what my photograph may be used for. I strongly disagree. I own the copyright of all photos that I take. People in my photos also have an established legal right to constrain what I do with them. The government of the country in which I took my photos has no legal right to decide what my photos may be use for. The help pages of this web-site include this statement: "The copyright of all photographs on this site remains the property of the original copyright owner: either the person who took the photo, or the publisher of the photo. In most cases this means that the copyright is owned by me or by Sheryl. In addition, copyright also belongs to any people appearing in the photos. Photos on this site are free to reuse for non-commercial purposes. To reuse for commercial purposes, or to get full resolution copies, you must license them ..." If Clearview AI have copies of my photos in their database, that would constitute commercial use, and would be a breach of my copyright. Such a breach would be a civil legal issue between myself and Clearview AI, not a matter for the Australian government. |
Posted on 22nd October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article from the BBC describes some of the conclusions of a report by the US intelligence community. It seems to me that the US intelligence community has been a little slow in catching up. My point is that there are already tensions between nations due to climate change and the over-use of resources, which are only going to get worse:
This is only a sample of the existing international tensions, caused by or exacerbated by global warming or resource over-exploitation. Also remember that global tensions are a less grim scenario than the societal collapse being predicted by some experts (see here). |
Posted on 20th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
The information in this post is culled from this report from the BBC, this report from the BBC, this report from Reuters, this report from the BBC, this report from The Atlantic and this comedy sketch from The Late Show. Basically, there are worldwide shortages of huge range of things, and price rises in many markets. Due to supply chain issues, there are shortages in the USA of fish sticks (fish fingers to Brits), frozen and ready-made meals, toys, sweets/candy, wine (apparently due to a shortage of glass bottles), and Ben & Jerry's is only making a reduced selection (due to shortages of ingredients). There are also shortages of toilet paper, paper towels, bottled water (which, in the USA is usually uncarbonated, and so unrelated to the CO2 shortage), new clothes, pet food, prescription medicines and canned-food, test kits, car parts, semiconductors, ships, shipping containers and even workers (truck drivers, factory and warehouse workers). The is a global CO2 shortage. CO2 is used to carbonate drinks and pump beer and other drinks in pubs, to promote the growth of plants in greenhouses, to stun pigs and chickens before slaughter, for packaging meats, baby foods, fresh foods and baked products (CO2 extends shelf life by preventing bacteria), to keep food fresh in transport (CO2 is used in the form of dry ice and snow), amongst other things. ![]() ![]() There is a worldwide shortage of energy supplies (oil, coal, natural gas, propane and electricity) leading price rises in the USA, Europe (including the UK) and Asia. In the case of natural gas in the USA and UK, this is partly simply due to bad planning: having insufficient stockpiles. China is especially hard hit, with a coal shortage leading to a shortage of electricity, which is having knock-on effects in the supply of manufactured goods (paper, food, textiles, toys, semiconductors chips, etc.) around the world. India is nearly as badly effected. Shortages of semiconductor chips from countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, are causing worldwide shortages of cars, phones, computers and 5G phone network technology. It is a really bad time to buy a new computer, or to upgrade your RAM or graphics card. Britain, hit with the double whammy of Brexit and COVID-19, is facing an acute shortage of truckers, butchers and warehouse workers that has exacerbated global supply chain problems. As a result, Brits have had a petrol (gasoline) supply crisis, run the risk of serious shortages in the shops at Christmas and are facing widespread price rises. Although politicians and business leaders keep quoting reasons such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and Brexit for the shortages and price rises, at least some blame lies elsewhere. Over the last few decades, business has become more global, meaning longer and less robust supply chains. When everything is working, this results in cheaper goods, raw materials and fuel, but when there are other pressures on the system, as there are now, the system collapses, as we are seeing now. As an example, look at meat supply. China, Brazil, the USA, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand are all big meat exporters, and their markets are most of the planet removed from production. This is another reason to "buy local". Manufacturing industries' love affair with JIT (Just In Time manufacturing and supply) is another factor in the current crises. Companies have embraced this approach, to reduce the costs associated with keeping parts and material in stock; stock levels have been reduced over the last two decades at retailers, finished goods manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and sources of parts and raw materials. This has resulted in lower prices to consumers, but now we are paying the price in the form of shortages. The same principle has been applied to stocks of natural gas and other fuels, with lower stock levels responsible for shortages and price rises in The UK and the USA. Things are not looking good at the moment, and will take a year or two (or longer) to stabilise, if ever. Industry needs to look again at the balance between price and supply resilience. It is probably not an optimal time to start a new business, because the price and availability of premises, energy, ingredients, parts and labour is very unpredictable, making cash-flow planning and profit and loss analysis almost impossible. |
Posted on 15th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
The BBC does it again, in this article. The journalist (unnamed) reports that the USA is planning to expand offshore wind energy on "on both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico". The last time that I checked, the USA had not two but three coasts: east, west and south. I believe that these words are actually quoting the Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland. There are several journalistic methods for showing that the stupidity or ignorance was that of the source, not the journalist: by putting the words in quotation marks, or inserting "[sic]" after the offending statement, for example. No such attempt was made, meaning that the BBC has decided to own the mistake. |
Posted on 15th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Finally, some good news about the fight against the coronavirus. This piece on "City A.M." reports on the discovery in a 45 year old man of a natural antibody which is effective against most variants of the virus, including the Delta and Alpha variants. It is possible to synthesise antibodies, so it is only a matter of time before a treatment using this antibody is available. |
Posted on 15th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
I found this story on Pro Publica thoroughly shocking. The story revolves around Judge Donna Scott Davenport, a judge in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Judge Davenport created a process to decide whether children should be detained in the local juvenile detention center; she also happens to be the director of that detention center. This decision making process was ruled illegal by a federal judge in 2017, and it was ordered to end, although it seems that it is still being used. In 2014, among cases referred to juvenile court, Rutherford County locked up children in 48% of its cases, whereas the statewide average was 5%! The shit has recently hit the fan, due to a case where police arrested four black girls at an elementary school in 2016. The officers handcuffed two of the girls, including the youngest, an 8-year-old. The kids were accused of watching some boys fight and not stepping in. They were charged with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another,” which is not an actual crime. All the charges were later dismissed. Due to the recent investigations, it has emerged that Judge Davenport lied about (or at least seriously exaggerated) her experience "in law enforcement". This is relevant because such judges are elected, not appointed. Another result is that the Middle Tennessee State University has broken all ties with the judge. I find so many things worrying about this saga. After the publicity, she seems unlikely to be re-elected, but I feel that she should be removed from her position immediately, before she ruins anyone else's life. |
Posted on 15th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
In this report on the BBC, the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, is quoted as saying that Brexit has made the supply chain crisis worse for the UK. Personally, I accept his thesis. Most of the shortages currently being suffered by Britain, including the petrol shortage, are due to supply chain issues, rather than any real shortage of goods. So, yet again, rather than yielding benefits to the country, Brexit is making life worse for Brits. |
Posted on 27th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
I was thinking recently about the ridiculousness of political correctness regarding personal pronouns. Many transsexuals, and even some transvestites, are very picky about what personal pronouns people use about them and to them; they can get seriously offended if people don't use their chosen pronouns (he, she, they etc.). Many of us have, or had in the past, nicknames that people used instead of our given names. I, my father and my son Brendan, have all been called "Foz" or "The Foz". Often these are not directly offensive (not, however, the case with an ex-colleague whose name was Richard Head). I know of no-one who ever chose their own nickname, but most of us know better than to be offended by, or try to change, the nicknames people use for us. Why then, do people expect to be able to choose the personal pronouns used when people refer to them? Personal pronouns are part of our language; the purpose of language is communication, and lack of ambiguity is an important part of that communication. If someone who identifies as a woman, still looks like a man (and I have seen a fair few transsexuals whose operations, hormone treatments, clothes and makeup are not convincing) then I reserve the right, for the purpose of avoiding ambiguity, to use whatever personal pronouns I choose when referring to them. I feel that is the height of arrogance to insist on specific personal pronouns. You own neither the nicknames nor the pronouns that people refer to you with. |
Posted on 4th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Business Ethics). |
This article on the BBC is about the Facebook whistleblower: Frances Haugen. She has been leaking Facebook internal documents, initially anonymously, but now she has revealed her identity. She has quite a lot to say about Facebook's business ethics, or lack thereof. In one statement on CBS's "60 Minutes" programme, she said "There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook". "Facebook over and over again chose to optimise for its own interests, like making more money." Well Duh! As I have written before in this blog thread, the issue is with the laws and stock exchange regulations governing corporations, which constrains companies to maximise profit; company officers may be fired, fined and even barred from holding jobs as corporate officers, for choosing to prioritise other things like the environment, public decency, political stability, etc. Many people are clamouring for companies to act more for the public good, but are shouting at the wrong target. If they want corporations to act more responsibly, the laws and regulations need to be changed to allow companies to prioritise things other than profit, and provide them with financial and legal incentives to do so. |
Posted on 4th October 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
![]() Someone else has obviously already complained about this report on the BBC. The headline originally read "Milan plane crash: Eight dead as private jet hits building", but has now been changed to "Milan plane crash: Eight dead as private plane hits building". Well good! Although most readers might not know anything about the model of aircraft which crashed (a Pilatus PC-12), anyone can see from the photo to the right that it is not a jet. This is not the first time that a BBC journalist has been unable to tell the difference between a jet and a propeller plane, and that the editor has let the mistake slip by. |
Posted on 28th September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Shortages). |
The news contains lots of reports about shortages. This problem seems to be the nature of the world, now. ![]() The funniest story that I have seen is this one on The Hustle, describing the impact of a shortage school-bus drivers in the US, which talks about the case of a high school teacher in Boston who wanted to take his 11th graders on a field trip. No yellow school buses, were available for charter, so he ended up renting from a private company. The bus provided was equipped with neon lights and stripper poles. I am sure the students told their parents all about it. Some of the side-effects of this bus driver shortage include increased costs of the school bus service and increases in the amount of parents driving their kids to and from school (with all the associated impacts of more petrol consumption, increased pollution, more traffic congestion and more traffic accidents). There is a worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips, making computers and accessories like graphics cards and RAM more expensive and increasing waiting times, and causing car, washing machine and smartphone manufacturers to pause manufacturing (here, on the BBC). Part of the blame can be laid at the door of the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused a dip in demand; now that demand is picking up again, the chip manufacturers do not have the capacity to meet it, having retired or mothballed chip manufacturing plants and shed staff. There are shortages of truck drivers in the UK (here, on the BBC) and the EU (here, on Politico). In Britain there is a shortfall of about 10,000 lorry drivers, both for fuel and grocery delivery, prompting the UK government to temporarily relax visa requirements for truck drivers. There are shortages of natural gas in the EU (here, on The Economist) and the UK (here, on the BBC). There is a CO2 shortage in the UK (here, on the BBC). There are enormous problems with petrol (gasoline) supply in the UK (here, on the BBC); not a shortage, as such, (there is plenty of petrol), just a delivery problem (because of the shortage of truck drivers), all being made worse by panic buying, as usual. There are shortages of various groceries in the UK (things that are imported from the EU), and in the EU (mostly, but not only, things that are imported from the UK), due to Brexit and other causes. Things are starting to improve now, but for a while we were not able to get Branston pickle or Marmite. Last year our everyday wine (from Portugal) was not available in a local German supermarket for an extended period. Another supermarket keeps dropping items off of its stock list (the "Sensational Burger" vegan burger, hot sauce, etc.). There are regular warnings that coffee may become more expensive and harder to get. Real vanilla is very expensive and hard to find. Various reasons are slated for these different shortages:
Some of the blame lies with industry's love affair with JIT (Just In Time) manufacturing and supply; although it helps reduce costs (by reducing the amounts in stock) this system is much less robust when things go wrong. JIT is definitely partly to blame for the shortage of semiconductor chips. One thing that occurred to me is that the current shortages in so many things are exactly what one would expect at the beginning of societal collapse (see here), with plausible explanations given for each different shortage, but all in fact symptoms of deeper and wider malaise. I am not saying that societal collapse (due to climate change or other reasons) is definitely to blame, but it is a possibility that bears consideration. |
Posted on 19th September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
I like this story from Ars Technica. Unusually, everyone involved seems to understand what an exemption means and who can grant one, and the hospital in Arkansas is calling bullshit on the claims of religious exemptions. The basis of the claims by some of hospital staff that they should be exempt from a vaccination mandate is that foetal cell lines are used in the development and testing of the Covid-19 vaccines, which is in conflict with their religious beliefs. So the Conway Regional Health System is requiring staff to sign a written declaration that they will also not take any other medicines that use foetal cell lines for development or testing. The report lists a selection of such medicines: Tylenol (paracetamol/acetaminophen), Pepto Bismol, aspirin, Tums, Lipitor (Atorvastatin, to lower blood cholesterol), Senokot/Ex-Lax (a laxative), Motrin/Ibuprofen, Maalox (an antacid), Benadryl (an antihistamine), Sudafed (a decongestant), albuterol (which opens up airways in the lungs), Preparation H, the MMR vaccine, Claritin (for allergies), Zoloft (an antidepressant, Prilosec OTC, and azithromycin (a powerful antibiotic, listed by the WHO as an essential medicine). Remember that these are just examples, and the full list is much larger. I am pretty sure that all of the health workers applying for religious exemption have taken more than one of these medicines in the past, and will find it difficult to give them all up. Without them, they run the risk of serious illness, permanent disability and even death. I am also pretty sure that, if the Conway Regional Health System catches any of these staff taking any of these proscribed medicines, they will have their vaccination exemptions revoked immediately, as they should be. |
Posted on 19th September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This story on NewsOne is sadly not so unusual. NewsOne says, in their piece, that there " a growing trend of people who oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates exercising their religious exemptions as a way to skirt the rules." I can't work out who is more ignorant in this case: NewsOne, the restaurant or the family trying to skirt the rules. A man took his family to a restaurant in New York. The waiter tells the family that he can not serve them unless they show proof of vaccination. The key statement is by the would be customer: "... we just told you that we are religiously exempt". No proof of this claimed religious exemption was proffered. There are only two kinds of requirement to be vaccinated: those imposed by law, whether federal law, state law or local law; and those imposed by the venue (in this case, the restaurant). There is only one party that can grant an exemption to a rule: the party who created that rule. In Germany, the requirement to have been vaccinated, and to show proof of that vaccination is imposed by law (usually by the city of state government, not the federal government, depending on the current number of infections), but in the US these rules are usually imposed by the venue/business. In such cases, claiming that his family "are ... exempt" could only be true if the restaurant had granted an exemption. For countries like the USA, Germany, Britain, etc. which have a separation of church and state, and where religions have no special status under the law (except, in many cases, being tax exempt as a charity) there is no way that one's church can grant an exemption to either a law or a venue's rules. Even in countries which do not have this separation, such as Iran, documentary proof of this exemption is required. The restaurant really should have pushed back much harder. The problem in the US seems to be that people believe that their various religions have some special legal status that they do not actually have. This has led to numerous highly publicised cases of people flouting laws against discrimination on the grounds of their religious convictions. I do not have a requirement that people who visit my home are vaccinated against Covid-19 (nor any other disease), but I have a general expectation that they are. If a visitor tried to claim that they were exempt on the grounds of their religion, they would not get in (or if they were already in my home, they would be leaving immediately), simply because I don't tolerate being bullshitted, and will not tolerate being told that my choices are governed by someone else's religion. |
Posted on 12th September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
The headline of this report on ABC News really says it all: even people who are at death's door due to Covid-19 still reject the vaccines. I am sure that many of you will feel that I am being overly harsh when I say that these people deserve to die! There are some other nuggets in the article, such as:
There is so much disinformation, and so many conspiracy theories, on the subject of Covid-19 and the vaccinations that combat it, that it can be impossible to have a rational discussion on the topic. Disinformation seems to be a modern pandemic in its own right; one for which there is no vaccine. |
Posted on 11th September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This sad story on USA Today, in which a man died of a "cardiac event" after being turned away by 43 ICUs (Intensive Care Units) which were all full due to the enormous number of Covid-19 patients, really begs the question: do the unvaccinated feel guilty about this and other deaths and severe illnesses caused by their selfishness? Of course, we all know the answer: no they don't. They should do. This is exactly the sort of reason why they are being asked to get immunised, but they are more concerned about their "right to choose" than about other people's life and health. Well, that "right" (to be selfish) is gradually getting eroded away. As reported here on Reuters, the US government has mandated that most federal employees be vaccinated, and the US Department Of Labor will now require companies of 100 people or more to insist that their employees either be vaccinated or tested weekly. Other employers in the US and elsewhere are also making moves to require vaccinations. Other governments will probably follow the example set by the US. This is only right. As I have pointed out before, the basic liberal principle is that people should have as much freedom as possible as long as it doesn't impinge on other people's freedoms. Choosing not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 clearly takes away other people's freedoms and rights (to "life, health and happiness"), as demonstrated by the case of the man turned away by 43 ICUs. |
Posted on 3rd September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Computer Hardware). |
The author of this report on Extreme Tech is livid, and rightly so. Western Digital, Crucial, and now Samsung have been exposed cheating their customers for SSDs (Solid State Discs). The article describes how the initial versions of the products are released, and reviewed by magazines like Extreme Tech. Then modified versions of them are released, having lower performance but the same model number. These newer lower performance SSDs are bought by customers on the basis of reviews of higher performance versions. This is fraud, pure and simple. |
Posted on 3rd September 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This horrifying piece of news on the BBC describes a new assessment of the extinction risk faced by tree species, and concludes that a third of all species are at risk. The risk is due to forest clearance for crops and grazing, logging, clearance for development, fire, climate change and its side-effects of extreme weather and sea level rise. The potential proportion of risk of extinctions is much higher that for animals, and is shocking. Trees are essential to life in so many ways, and the loss of this many species would have huge knock-on effects on all other life on our planet. Time to take action, before it is too late! |
Posted on 26th August 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
Several recent stories show that hacking (and rasomware) attacks, and security vulnerabilities, are part of every day life in the modern world, and not just some passing phase. They also show that the problem is being exacerbated by a lack of the appropriate paranoia about the risks, and by general stupidity. Earlier this year the Solarwinds hack came to light, which mainly targeted U.S. government agencies, although it went undetected for many months. More recently there was the Kaseya attack, which affected companies around the world. Many companies were much more seriously impacted than necessary, because they were using Kaseya's backup service, meaning that the backups, which were also compromised, could not be used to recover from the hack. A friend who runs a small to medium sized company in Munich was impacted by this hack (and he is totally paranoid about cybersecurity!), and will not be using Kaseya's backup service any more (he didn't actually realise that his backups used this service, because his backups were handled by one of his service providers, who in turn used Kaseya). Crypto-currency traders and repositories were also hit recently. There was an attack on Poly Network, in which about $600M was stolen, although bizarrely, most of the funds were later returned by the hacker. Then there was an attack on Japanese crypto-currency exchange Liquid. where the hackers stole around $100M. There was a hack which stole data on more than 40 million of T-Mobile's U.S. customers (and people who had merely applied to be customers). Microsoft continues to be the greatest cybersecurity risk in many people's everyday lives; Adobe is a close second. After the PrintNightmare vulnerability came to light, there is now a new security hole which would let hackers take control of your systems, without needing an administrative password. This article on Tom's Guide really says it all: "Boneheaded recent change to Windows just makes it too easy". It's like I always say, you can't trust Microsoft. We need to accept that this problem affects everyone, and all systems, and to apply some common sense and paranoia, to reduce the risks and impacts. The problem is not going away. Security needs to be designed into systems from the ground up, not added as a bolt-on fix. Do your own backups, and store them off-site; update your systems frequently (but vet the updates before rolling them out); use firewalls which only allow essential access, and review the settings regularly; use dissimilar systems where possible (e.g. Linux servers with Windows clients); use quality malware scanners (more than one); block your users' access to dangerous web-sites; provide your users with a quarantine environment where they can open suspicious email attachments and visit suspicious web-links; control the connection of removable media/devices (USB drives, mobile phones, etc.) to company systems; and trust no-one. |
Posted on 26th August 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on the BBC provides some worrying, if not totally surprising, information. Street Lamps are having a major impact on insect populations, mainly on moths and other insects which are active at night. Insect numbers are anyway being reduced due to climate change, habitat loss and pesticides. The researchers also think street lights may deter nocturnal moths from laying eggs and increase the risk of the insects being spotted and eaten by predators such as bats. In turn, caterpillars born under streetlights, especially LED lamps, show altered feeding habits. Insects are a vital part of our ecosystems, pollinating plants, providing food for birds and bats, and recycling waste food. Damage to insect numbers and diversity puts us, and all life on this planet, at risk. There are things, some of them easy and cheap, that we can do to reduce the impact of street lamps on insects:
We need to do something, and every little helps. |
Posted on 4th July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
The headline ("To Stop Climate Change Americans Must Cut Energy Use by 90 Percent, Live in 640 Square Feet, and Fly Only Once Every 3 Years, Says Study") is actually very misleading, in this report on "Reason". The study described started from the premise that the technology used for energy production, transport (transportation, to some readers), etc. remains largely unchanged compared to what we currently have. They then calculated how much we would all have to tighten our belts to live within what the planet can support. The results make grim reading. They also looked around the world to see if there are any countries currently living within these limits, which provide an adequate lifestyle for their citizens; there are none. I think that many people already realised that saving the planet simply by consuming less resources is not viable, especially as the world population is still growing, meaning that the limited resources will have to shared by more people. Clearly we need radically more efficient technologies to create and distribute resources: energy, food, water, transport, health care, heating and cooling (for food refrigeration and air conditioning), clothing, etc. Huge efforts are being made in renewable energy (with results already being seen) and carbon capture, but more is needed. We need to stop creating products with built-in obsolescence (computers, cars, TVs and household appliances), curb the fashion industry that encourages us to buy new clothes without any reason, make clothes which last, and promote and enforce the right to repair our property. We need to reduce travel for work (most of which can be replaced with remote meeting technology) and for leisure, and reduce car ownership (replacing it with efficient and effective public transport). We need to demand better energy efficiency in our electrical and electronic goods. We need to make our buildings energy efficient. Plus, we need to move towards a 100% recycling economy. The consequences of not rising to meet the challenges are horrifying: food and water shortages, rationing of energy and almost everything, luxury products (coffee, chocolate, wine, spirits, olives, truffles, etc.) being unavailable (with some crop species becoming extinct), a disastrous decline in people's health and life expectancy, collapse of the money-based economy and law and order, and wars over resource shortages. This is not a world I want to live in! |
Posted on 4th July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
This news report on the BBC describes a huge cyber-attack, with about 200 US companies effected so far, and the number apparently still growing. The attack seems to be working in a similar way to the SolarWinds attack on US government agencies in 2020, whereby a software supplier (Kaseya, in the latest attack) was breached and their software compromised; the compromised software was then distributed to their customers through the standard software update process. The latest story, also on the BBC, reports that the Swedish Coop supermarket chain has had to close hundreds of their stores, because they were unable to process customers' payments. This is a huge problem in Sweden, where almost all shop payments are electronic, and many people do not carry enough cash to pay for their groceries. The worrying thing is that the Swedish Coop is not even a direct customer of Kaseya, but a customer of one of Kaseya's customers. This suggests that the impact could potentially grow even larger. |
Posted on 4th July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This piece on USA Today reports on data from the USA on the increasing proportion of children amongst new infections by the coronavirus. At the start of the pandemic, kids were just 2% of cases; now they make up 24% of new infections, despite only making up 16% of the population. Luckily, these infections are still less severe than in adults (fewer severe infections and hospitalisations), but there is still some risk to the kids, and they are also a source of further infections in adults. Vaccination programmes have, until now, focused on adults, and most governments have not approved any vaccines for younger children. Given the new data, it is time to test and approve Covid-19 vaccines for younger kids, and get them vaccinated. |
Posted on 4th July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This article on Newsweek reports on the case of a woman in Missouri who was worried about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and chose not be vaccinated, but then caught the Delta variant and died. There are many such cases popping up in the news from time to time, but people don't seem to be learning the lesson. As far as I am concerned, this is karma. You can die from eating a bad batch of food from the supermarket, drinking alcohol, crossing the street, or taking a flight on an aeroplane, but people take the risk because the benefits outweigh the risks. Vaccination against Covid-19 is the same. |
Posted on 4th July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This story on Insider, and this one on CNN explain how unvaccinated people who are infected with Covid-19 are breeding grounds for mutated variants of the coronavirus. By not getting vaccinated, they are not only risking their own health, but are also putting the health of all of us at risk, by creating and spreading potentially more dangerous variants of the disease. This phenomenon makes the disease much harder to control, and runs the risk of making our current vaccines ineffective. The basic liberal principle is that people should be given as much freedom as possible without allowing them to limit the freedom of others. This principle is the justification for laws putting limits on people's exercise of their rights and freedoms (such as the various rights in the US constitution). Exercising the right to choose to not be vaccinated is impinging on the rights and freedoms of the rest of the population. How much longer will we tolerate people choosing not to get vaccinated? I think it is time to enact legislation to limit people's freedom to make this irresponsible choice. |
Posted on 3rd July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
This report on PCMag, and this one on Tom's Guide are about the newly discovered PrintNightmare exploit of a Windows security vulnerability. Yes, the vulnerability is already being actively exploited, and your computers are at risk. So, yet again, Microsoft, with their poor design and cavalier attitude to users' security, have put millions of users at risk. The potential impact is huge, because all Windows versions since Windows are vulnerable. The vulnerable software is the Print Spooler, which is common to all Windows versions, both client and server. As yet there is no patch to close the vulnerability, but there are some things that you can do to reduce or eliminate the risk (depending on your network topology and security policies). Microsoft has released a document listing “PrintNightmare” mitigation strategies. The suggestion on Tom's Guide is to disable the Print Spooler service (which you probably can't live with) or to disable inbound remote printing through Windows’ Group Policy. Disabling inbound remote printing means that your Windows print servers will not work; yet another reason to migrate your server functionality to Linux. |
Posted on 3rd July 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This report on Gizmodo describes a study of Covid-19 infections amongst household pets of people who were themselves infected with the coronavirus. It has been known for a while that some pets (dogs, cats and members of the weasel family) can get infections of Covid-19. Generally, these infected animals only exhibit minor symptoms, and do not infect humans (although mink, part of the weasel family, show more severe symptoms and can infect humans). What was not so clear was how often these pets were getting infected. The new study shows that infections of pets by humans is actually fairly common. The Gizmodo article is rather dismissive of the risk, because of the fact that cats and dogs do not infect humans. So what happens when a new variant evolves, which can make the leap from pets back to humans? This is not such a stretch of the imagination, given the constant parade of new mutant coronavirus types, and the fact that such a mutant variant first made the leap from animals to humans in the first place. If such a variant (or even several such variants) emerges, the disease will be much harder to control, because there will be a reservoir of infections amongst unvaccinated pets. Mass culling of household pets will be very strongly resisted by pet owners, so vaccination of pets seems the only option, and we do not yet have Covid-19 vaccines for dogs and cats. This new data suggests that the threshold for achieving herd immunity will be even tougher than previously thought; a 70% vaccination rate is simply not going to cut it. |
Posted on 27th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread. |
I see many posts on Facebook which are written in various languages (German, French, Arabic, Afrikaans, etc), for which Facebook offers automatic translation. I am constantly appalled at how bad these translations are. On many occasions I have used the option to "rate this translation", but there is no option to explain what is wrong with it; only to say things like "I can't understand it at all". I am quite happy to invest a little time and effort to explain to Facebook what error(s) their translation software has made, but I don't have this option. I can only assume that the company simply doesn't care about the quality of this service; I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised. |
Posted on 26th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This article on the BBC about recovering century-old beer from a shipwreck was interesting and amusing. It does, however, prove that journalists who have basic chemistry knowledge are in short supply at the BBC. The report describes how the ship which sank in 1895, "was packed with various kinds of cargo, including large containers of a chemical called tin chloride". The is a reason why it is "called" tin chloride; because that it what it is. The use of the word "called" here suggests that it is called tin chloride, but is actually something else. Why does it seem to be so hard for the BBC? |
Posted on 26th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This article on the BBC reports that some of Britain's athletes do not want to receive the Covid-19 vaccine before travelling to Tokyo to compete in the Olympics. The poor hard done by babies! Why is there even a discussion? If they want the privilege of representing their country in the Olympics, they need to get vaccinated. If they don't, they are putting themselves, staff and other competitors in Tokyo at risk; when they return home, they will be putting more people at risk. Get the vaccine, or stay home and allow someone more appreciative to take their places on the Olympic squad. The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 is still rampant across the world, and mutating into more deadly and infectious variants at an accelerating rate. Already vaccination is required to attend some social and cultural events, make many international flights and take international vacations. Vaccinations are also required for hospital workers (medical and non-medical workers) and some other professions. Given that the disease is clearly not under control, it is probably only a matter of time before vaccinations become mandatory for more people and more circumstances. Personally, no-one is allowed into my home unless vaccinated, no matter who they are. Are we really so worried about offending people, and restricting their "rights" that we are prepared to be put at risk by people who don't want the vaccine? |
Posted on 26th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
As many of you will have noticed, Microsoft has announced Windows 11, despite having said many times that there would be no major new versions of Windows, and that all changes would now be handled as updates to Windows 10. SkypeOne of the major changes, as described here by the BBC, is that Teams will now be bundled Windows, and that Skype will not. "Looks like Microsoft is killing off Skype,", according to Adrian Weckler, the Irish & Sunday Independent tech editor. There are lots of apps providing voice and video calling from PCs and smart-phones, but if you want to call with an app to a real phone number, as you can with Skype, things are not so simple (I have yet to find one). I also know of no other service with the equivalent of Skype-In numbers, where you get a virtual phone number, which diverts incoming calls to your Skype device. Other ChangesThis article on Extreme Tech lists some of the other freedom-eroding changes to Windows. It reads rather like a rant, but nevertheless makes some valid points. Here is a summary of some of the key issues:
There may be other issues that I am not yet aware of. |
Posted on 21st March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Software). |
I had to laugh when I read this story on "9 To 5 Mac". Apple has been ordered by a federal court in Texas to pay $308.5 million to Personalized Media Communications, a non-trading company which owns dozens of patents and generates revenues through patent litigation. PMC's original claim was rejected by the U.S. Patent office, but PMC appealed to the court, and has just won the case, although Apple plans to appeal. I find this especially apt, because Apple has a long history of stealing or otherwise appropriating other people's intellectual property, and then suing other companies for patent infringement. Like they say, "What goes around, comes around." |
Posted on 26th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
![]() A friend sent me this photos of a newspaper clipping (to the right) about a bill being put forward in the Texas legislature (the highlighting is my friend's, not mine). Representative Terry Meza (a democrat - no surprise there) wants to repeal the states's "castle doctrine", which allows a homeowner to use lethal force to defend their home. There have always been issues with the way the "castle doctrine" legislation was written and interpreted, with the result that there was no onus on the homeowner to use only the minimum necessary force, and a number of morally questionable deaths have resulted. It is absolutely right to put a legal responsibility on homeowners to use only proportionate and necessary force. I do, however, find some of the other parts of the proposed legislation downright offensive. Homeowners will have a duty to flee, if someone break in, and if unable to flee, then to cooperate with the intruder. Then there are the excuses made in the article for the thieves, and the statements that the thieves need the money more than the homeowners, and that theft can be viewed as a means to a more equitable distribution of wealth; it is unclear whether these views can be attributed to Representative Meza, or are the opinions of the journalist. This is arrant PC nonsense. The good thing is that this bill has no chance of becoming law in Texas. |
Posted on 13th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
This story on USA Today reports on the hearing in a Houston federal court on the law suit by medical workers at Houston Methodist Hospital. After months of warnings, Houston Methodist had put more than 170 of its 26,000 employees on unpaid suspension Monday. They were told they would be fired it they weren't vaccinated by June 21. In the meantime, a 117 of those staff had sued the hospital on the basis that the vaccines were experimental and potentially unsafe. I blogged about their ridiculous law suit here. The judge dismissed their suit, saying "This claim is false, and it is also irrelevant". Good for him. Since this hearing was in federal court, it counts as legal precedent for the whole of the USA, although I suspect that there will be an appeal, so the issue is not completely closed yet. |
Posted on 12th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
This report on "Laptop" describes the latest release of hacked email passwords on the Internet. The published leak is a 100GB text file comprising 8.4 billion private login entries (email address and password pairs). The article included a link to "Have I Been Pwned?", where you can easily check whether any of your email passwords have been compromised. This is safe: all you need to do is enter your email address, and it will respond with the number of passwords in the file for that address. You are not asked for your password, and there is no way for you or anyone else, to find out what those passwords are. I strongly recommend that everyone checks all of their email addresses. |
Posted on 12th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Cybersecurity). |
As reported here on Defender Network, Amazon Sidewalk has now been rolled out (on the 8th of June). If you didn't opt out, you already have it. More to the point, your neighbours with Amazon devices (Alexa, Echo, or a Ring Doorbell) also have it, with the option to use your WiFi is theirs is not working, unless you opted out. "Amazon Sidewalk is a free, shared network to help customers with Amazon devices, Alexa, Echo, Ring doorbell, and security cameras, stay connected even if your wifi is weak or fails. Sidewalk automatically connects customers to the wifi of neighbors who also have Amazon devices." This is a huge security risk for your home network, opening the door to hacking from your neighbours' networks. Any security measures are only as secure as the weakest link, so your risk is determined by how careful your neighbours have been. Personally, I am rather paranoid about my network security. This means:
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Posted on 12th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This story on Gizmodo is only the latest of a whole array of incentives for people to get their vaccination against Covid-19. Gizmodo reports that, in Washington State, where recreational marijuana is legal, people can get their immunisation shot at a weed shop, and will receive a free joint. In California there is a cash vaccination lottery, with prizes currently up to $1.5M; Washington State also has a cash lottery with the chance to win $250K. This news story on AP News summarises other incentive schemes in the USA: a free beer from Anheuser-Busch once the nation's 70% vaccination target is met; free childcare while getting shots and recovering from the side-effects; plus sports tickets and paid leave. Canada also has a whole slew of incentive schemes to speed vaccination efforts. All this is in stark contrast to the situation in most other countries (the EU and Taiwan are examples) where there are not enough doses of vaccines, and governments are focusing their efforts on delaying, prioritising and excuse-propagandising. |
Posted on 6th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This report on the BBC is one of a whole series of articles about the number of cases of black fungus (mucormycosis) in patients recovering from Covid-19. This seems to be especially problematic in India. Initially, suspicion fell on treatment with steroids (now a standard medication used in severe cases of the coronavirus), but now the spotlight is on diabetes. In India, amongst patients recovering from Covid-19 94% of those who had the fungal infection also suffered from diabetes. The IDF (International Diabetes Federation) estimates that about 57% of those with diabetes in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are undiagnosed, and nearly all of these are found in India. We should, however, be cautious in interpreting these statistic. Covid-19 is now known to trigger diabetes (something which the author of the BBC article seems unaware of), so the number of cases of black fungus amongst diabetics recovering from Covid-19 will inevitably be distorted by cases of diabetes brought on by the coronavirus. |
Posted on 3rd June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Gun Law). |
This story on "toofab" beggars belief. A mother in Texas opened fire on a puppy belonging to a neighbour, which she claims was rampaging, firing three shots in quick succession across a public street in the direction of two occupied houses. She could see a man and woman across the street, but not her own son (her view of him was obscured), and a ricochet hit the boy. The woman has been charged, as is only just. I also hope that her gun licence is revoked. This is just another example of problems with gun violence and gun accidents in the USA, but "the guns are not the problem" right? |
Posted on 6th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
This report on the BBC is merely one example of a growing trend in journalism. It is not only an issue with the BBC, but with very many news publishers. The report is about how the contribution of nitrous oxide to global warming is being overlooked. Nitrous oxide comprises two atoms of nitrogen bound to one atom of oxygen, and the formula is N2O, not N20 as the BBC report states. There are many examples of this kind of sloppiness published every day: CO2 instead of CO2, H2O instead of H2O. Is it really so hard to use subscripts for the numbers in chemical formulae? Anyone who studied some chemistry at school knows how chemical formulae should be written. |
Posted on 6th June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sovereignty). |
This article on the BBC really highlights Spain's hypocrisy. The report is about the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla (called Sebtah and Melilah by Morocco). These territories have been in the news a lot lately due to the influx of illegal immigration from Morocco (which requires nothing more complex than a swim along the beach). The history of Ceuta and Melilla is summarised here, and that of Gibraltar here. Morocco is using exactly the same arguments for the return of the two enclaves as Spain uses to make the case for the return of Gibraltar. Spain's response to Morocco is broadly the same as Britain's to Spain. Spain's position is intolerably hypocritical. |
Posted on 3rd June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Racism). |
My god, what century are the NFL (National [American] Football League) living in? This report on the BBC describes how the NFL has finally agreed to stop using a racially biased algorithm that assumes black players have a lower level of cognitive function to calculate compensation for concussion victims, and not because they finally got a sense of morals, but because they were sued. This kind of racial prejudice has been illegal in the USA (and virtually all western nations) for decades. Did the NFL fail to notice, or did they just think that nobody would care? |
Posted on 3rd June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Gun Law). |
Sometimes I despair of Texans! This article on the BBC reports that Texas legislators have passed a bill which would allow most people to carry concealed handguns without a permit. Current Texan rules require that people carrying handguns must have a licence, training and background checks, as in other states. Gun violence is out of control in the USA, and getting worse all the time. At some point there will be measurable impacts on tourism and immigration, as people decide that America is simply too dangerous to visit or relocate to. |
Posted on 3rd June 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sexual Equality). |
I found this article on the BBC interesting. It describes how Florida has banned transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. Florida joins an increasing number of states that have passed such legislation. I found the most interesting part of the article to be the video of an interview by Stephen Sackur of Sharron Davies, an English former Olympic swimmer. She reminds us that men have, on average, a 10% performance advantage in sports, which can be as high as 20% in some sports. This advantage is enough to ensure that athletes born female have no chance of winning medals when competing against transgender athletes. I wonder whether part of the problem is the entitled attitude that so many people have nowadays. Yes, people should have the right to have gender reassignment surgery and the associated hormone treatment, and the right to not be subject to prejudice for choosing this. The problem seems to be that they think they are entitled to make this choice with no consequences whatsoever. The changes in the law creeping across the US mean that there are consequences: they will not be able to compete in sports. This is a basic component of life: choices and consequences, one of the basic tenets of Montessori education. I don't see why people should be able to choose to change their sex, without such a reasonable consequence. |
Posted on 30th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
I found this article on the BBC interesting. It lists the 5 largest fines so far under the EU's GDPR regulations. Some of the offences are the kind of thing I had expected; others are rather shocking. In summary:
What this tells us is that companies are unable to protect the data of their customers, and that legislation like GDPR that limit the data collected and held, and puts requirements for data security on those companies regarding handling and storage are very much needed. There is only one type of organisation that has proven to be less secure than even commercial companies in handling and storing data about us: government agencies. |
Posted on 30th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
The lawsuit described in this Washington Post report is laughable. Employees of a Texas hospital are suing their employer, who has mandated vaccination of staff, with the argument that they have a right to not be "experimented on" by being given an unproven Covid-19 vaccine. Given the number of people who have now been vaccinated against Covid-19, both in the USA and worldwide, and the vast amount of data which has been gathered on those people, the vaccines in question are far from unproven, and administering the vaccine to them is not an experiment. Continuing to collect data about levels of protection and side-effects of these vaccines does not mean the vaccines are "experimental". Even if it was a case of experimenting with an unproven vaccine, these people work in the health-care industry; patients have a right to be be as safe as possible from infection with the coronavirus when being treated at this hospital, which means all the staff, medical or other employees, having been immunised. I hope the judge who hears this case throws it out. |
Posted on 30th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Online Shopping). |
On the surface, this story on Fstoppers is not a surprise. Amazon has a terrible reputation for customer service, and there are many stories on the Internet that suggest that the company is sometimes complicit in fraud perpetrated against their customers. In this case Amazon delivered an empty box to customers in Alabama instead of the camera worth $7,000 that they ordered, and then refused to give the customers a refund. The reason that I mention this case is because of the ideas that the the article mentions (some done by the customers in this case, and one not) to ensure that you can get a refund when appropriate. Based on the article, and some common sense, my recommendations are:
The last time that I ordered from Amazon was also not a great success. The HP printer cartridges that I ordered turned out to not be genuine HP items (not mentioned in the product listing), and therefore didn't work in my HP printer. I gave a review to Amazon when asked, stating that the products were not fit for purpose, and not as advertised. In response I got a "Thank you for your review" from Amazon, but no other action; it seems that the reviews are not checked by humans. I was at least able to return the items and to get a refund, but if the supplier hadn't been honest, I would have got no help from Amazon. |
Posted on 23rd May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
I strongly recommend that you spend the two minutes needed to watch this video on Twitter (remember to click to enable sound), in which congresswoman Katie Porter questions the CEO of a big pharma company (Abbvie) about their bullshit. Pharmaceutical companies regularly claim poverty because of the "huge costs" of research and development of new drugs ($2.45 billion for Abbvie from 2013 to 2018) , but in fact this pales into insignificance compared to the biggest outgoing, stock buy-backs and shareholder dividends ($50 billion for Abbvie from 2013 to 2018). As Katie Porter points out, the "justification" for the astronomical prices for medicines in the USA is a fairy tale. It is time for consumers and government to stop buying big pharma's bullshit. |
Posted on 23rd May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This report on the BBC gives me some reason to be hopeful. The G7 (the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Germany) have finally decided to take action to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Specifically, G7 environment ministers have agreed that they will deliver climate targets in line with limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C. As part of this they have agreed to stop direct funding of coal-fired power stations in poorer nations by the end of 2021, and made a commitment to safeguarding 30% of land for nature by 2030 to boost wildlife and help soak up carbon emissions. The problem that I have with all this is that this has taken so long to happen, and that the G7 nations are not putting their money where their mouths are. For example the British government decided (in January this year) to give the go-ahead for a new coal mine in Cumbria, as reported here by the BBC. All of the G7 nations still generate a significant proportion of the electricity from coal. Natural gas (also a fossil fuel) is being increasingly used for heating, cooking and electricity generation. Germany uses mainly lignite (the most polluting kinds of coal) for electricity generation, and only plans to phase out coal fired power by 2038, as reported here by the World Economic Forum. China (not part of the G7) is still building new coal-fired power stations, and they are not alone in this. It seems like the rich nations are telling the poor nations they have to be green, while continuing to not be green themselves. I think it is time for the G7 to lead by example. What really needs to happen is to:
There should be no loans or grants for the above, anywhere in the world. |
Posted on 23rd May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on inverse.com describes two extreme futures for the human race and our planet. Option one is what will happen if we do nothing; option two is what will happen if we pull out all the stops to save ourselves and our world. The predictions are for the year 2100, which is not so far away. Option one is very scary, and is not the kind of future I want for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I don't feel that I need to elaborate on this piece of future-gazing. |
Posted on 23rd May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sexual Equality). |
This news report on "USA Today" contains a strong complaint by a top American athlete, Chelsea Mitchell, about unfair competition in her sport (the 55-meter dash). She says that "time after time" she has lost to transgender athletes. "I've lost four women’s state championship titles, two all-New England awards, and numerous other spots on the podium to male runners". One could simply conclude that this is sour grapes by Chelsea Mitchell, but I feel that she has some grounds to complain. Compare this with the situation in Formula 1 motor racing. There are limits on the cubic capacity of the engines, the aerodynamic means used to increase grip, and a vast array of other rules to ensure that competition is fair. These rules change all the time, as new technology is introduced by the competing teams. I don't hear people complaining that these rules are discriminatory. Why is a comparable set of rules in athletics viewed by so many as discriminatory? |
Posted on 16th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
I read this report on the "Mail Online", about Eric Clapton, one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and his severe and scary side-effects from the Covid-19 vaccine. From the description, it sounds like he had Guillain-Barre Syndrome (read more about it here), which is a rare but known side-effect of Covid-19 which attacks the body's nerves causing partial or even complete paralysis and loss of sensation. Having Guillain-Barre Syndrome as a side-effect of a vaccination (in this case with the AstraZeneca vaccine) must be even rarer than as a side-effect of a Covid-19 infection; of course, we do not know whether he actually had Covid-19 as well as the vaccination. Eric Clapton reported that "his hands and feet became 'useless' – prompting fears he would never play [guitar] again". That would have been dreadful for him and the world. His main complaint, described in the news article, is actually about the propaganda surrounding the safety of the vaccines. Well, Duh! Of course there is propaganda on the subject, from all sides: from governments, vaccine manufacturers and anti-vax activists. Governments and vaccine manufacturers are trying to encourage the maximum possible number of people to get vaccinated, so that the coronavirus can be brought under control by achieving the holy grail of herd immunity. What is important is whether that propaganda was truthful or not. All the official information that I have seen has been truthful, although the same cannot be said of some information in the media, where publications and their journalists have their own agendas, and are often too ignorant about matters of medicine and public health to be useful. The usual messages are of the form that "the benefits outweigh the risks". The real problem for members of the public is translating that into real risk evaluations for individuals: answering questions such as "given my age, my weight, and my pre-existing conditions, what are my risks of the various possible side-effects?" A large part of the problem in answering such questions is the lack of the necessary data, and it will probably take two or three more years before enough data has been accumulated to provide such answers. Known side-effects of Covid-19 vaccines, depending on which vaccine, include:
In addition,we should not be totally surprised to see any and all symptoms which can be caused by Covid-19 also being found, albeit rarely and less severely, to be side-effects of vaccination. These include:
This also implies that health conditions that predispose people to higher risks from Covid-19 may also increase the risks of side-effects from Covid-19 vaccines. These health conditions include:
So, in summary, yes Mr. Clapton there is lots of propaganda about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines, but most of it is basically truthful, and the real limitation is the lack of data. |
Posted on 11th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
As reported here by the BBC, Boeing is again under the spotlight for safety issues with their Boeing 737 Max planes. This time it is an electrical problem, with potential effects on many systems. What is even more of concern is that there is a suggestion that this issue may have been involved in the failed sensors used by the AOA (Angle of Attack) system which caused the crashes of 737 Max planes. As a result of the discovery of this latest problem, more than 100 Boeing 737 Max aircraft were grounded in April, and deliveries of new aircraft were stopped. Boeing deemed that the change to manufacturing methods that led to the electrical faults was a "very minor change, so it was not notified to regulators". Again, this is not only a failure by Boeing, but also by the FAA. Neither Boeing nor the FAA can be trusted to ensure the safety of air travellers. |
Posted on 11th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Law Enforcement). |
It seems that the USA is intent on moving further away from civilized norms. This video report on The Young Turks seems to focus a lot of how the reporters at Fox News seem to be celebrating the reintroduction of execution by firing squad, but also thoroughly makes the case against the death penalty. The case is simple. Innocent people get executed, because of mistakes in the legal system: 185 Innocent people have been executed in the US since the death penalty was reintroduced in the 1970s, which is 1 in every 8.3 people, or 12%! Those 185 people are only the ones that are currently known about. I would argue that even even one innocent person being executed is too many. Much of the world has already stopped executing convicted criminals, but the US is swimming against the tide. I suppose that is what we should expect from a rogue nation. |
Posted on 9th May 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Travel). |
This news story on the BBC has me worried. Apparently, British airways is in discussion with airliner manufacturers about installing anti-missile technology on its aircraft. What has the world come to, when we need our civilian airliners protected by this sort of technology? Admittedly, there have been a few of high profile cases in recent years where airliners were shot down by missiles. Here are a few recent examples:
There are also a number of incidents in which it is not certain that the planes were shot down, the plane survived, or where missiles were not involved (see here for a full list of shoot-down incidents). When I started writing this post, I had no idea that there were so many shoot-down incidents. I guess that British Airways is right to investigate technology to protect against this risk. |
Posted on 1st April 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
I read an interesting story on the BBC, which put something into perspective for me. The article is about medlars, an ancient type of fruit that is almost impossible to find nowadays. "Medieval Europeans were fanatical about [medlars] that could only be eaten rotten." As a teenager, I tasted medlars. A relative had a tree in their garden; they had been allowed to rot on the tree. I copied my father by squeezing the pulp out of the tough skin. The flesh was rather like eating stewed or baked apple. A couple of years ago I was amazed to find medlars (called Mispel in German) at my local Edeka supermarket, and bought some. They were not ripe, and are not worth eating until they are rotten. What I didn't know is that if medlars are eaten before becoming rotten, they can make you violently ill: they cause diarrhoea. But if you put them in a crate of sawdust or straw and forget about them for several weeks, they gradually darken and their hard, astringent flesh softens to the consistency of a baked apple; or you can just let them rot on the tree. I can see that selling such fruit is problematic for supermarkets. Medlars are not robust enough to transport when ripe enough to eat. What concerns me is that the Edeka supermarket sold them without any health warning or instructions on how to ripen them. Sadly, I have not seen medlars in any shops since. |
Posted on 1st April 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
I recently read an interesting article on the BBC, although it raises more questions than it answers. Statistics show that a small number of frequent flyers do most of the flying:
Environmental groups are pushing for these frequent flyers to be penalised by higher taxes, and for frequent-flyer schemes to be cancelled. What is not clear is whether this is a simple proportional tax, or tax at at increasing rate as you fly more. Although I agree with the principle that the polluter pays, and the current system means that everyone is penalised (by reduced quality of life) by the pollution of the few, air travel is already taxed. I do not see a need for a new tax, if the necessary incentives/disincentives can be achieved with adjustments to an existing tax. In addition, the main problem with environmental taxes like those being proposed is that the governments levying these taxes are not constrained to spend the revenue thus raised on environmental programmes. Huge revenue is raised annually from fossil fuel production, but not a single nation is spending the this revenue on renewable energy sources, environmental clean up and energy efficient transport infrastructure. Also, the environmental groups do not seem to understand why people fly. I have at times been a frequent flyer, having had to travel for work (i.e. not a matter of personal choice). If people flying for work are taxed more for their flights, they will, of course, pass these taxation penalties on to their employers; this will incentivise employers to send their staff on flights less often, but only slightly so, since the flight costs are usually a small part of the cost of a business trip (staff time is usually the largest cost). There are, of course, travellers who mainly travel for pleasure. If taxation increases the costs of their flights, and if cost is an issue for them (which is often not true), they will travel less often, but the overall reduction in air travel this causes is not likely to be significant. Someone needs to do a proper analysis of the impact of additional taxation on air travel: a modelling study which includes the number of various different types of air traveller and the cost sensitivity of their decisions to fly. Only then will we have an idea of whether the proposed additional taxation will work. Anything less than such a study is just propaganda! |
Posted on 30th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Military & Defence). |
The grudging admission by Air Force chief of staff General Charles Q. Brown that the F35 programme is a failure (as reported here by Extreme Tech) is, as the article points out, not a surprise to those familiar with the F35. The programme was originally created in response to strong demands by the Marines to be allowed to buy British Harrier Jump-Jets, after they demonstrated their effectiveness in the Falklands war, where they soundly trounced a much larger Argentinian force of A-4 Skyhawks, IAI Daggers (copies of the Mirage V), Super Etendards and Mirage III interceptors, most of which were considered to be vastly superior aircraft. The Argentinian planes outnumbered the British aircraft by six to one. You can read more about the Harrier's role and performance in the Falklands war here on "We Are The Mighty". The combat advantage of the Harriers stemmed from their ability to use vectored thrust to increase maneuverability during dog-fights. The other reason that the US Marines wanted Harriers was for their vertical take-off and landing capability. Instead of allowing the Marines to buy Harriers (they bought 77; not as many as they needed), the US decided to start their own VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft development programme, which eventually produced the F35, which is now in service in several countries. None of the various versions of the F35 has vertical take-off capability, and only the F35-B has vertical landing (for which it sacrifices about 30% of its fuel load and has reduced turning g). So many compromises were made during development that the F35 is best described as a "jack of all trades, master of none". The Marines didn't get an aircraft capable of vertical take-off; The navy has a plane with reduced range/endurance and reduced maneuverability; indeed, no-one got what they wanted and were promised. Its mission capable rate is 69%, below the 80% benchmark set by the military. Operating costs are very high: the F-15EX costs an estimated $20,000 per hour to fly; the F-35 costs $44,000 per hour. The F35 was planned to replace six different in-service aircraft types: the F16, the F-15C/D, the F-15E, the F22, the F/A-18 and the few Harriers that they bought. It was also slated to replace the A-10. Plans to retire several of those aircraft types have been shelved, and the US military is now planning new aircraft programmes to fill roles that the F35 turns out to be unsuited for or simply too expensive. Of course, all these issues with the F35 are not only problems for the US; they have sold theses dreadful planes to several allies (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Singapore, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom), who are now discovering that they have been "sold a pup", and are rethinking the number that they will ultimately buy. Buying American is not always the smart choice! |
Posted on 23rd March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
I was shocked to read this report on the BBC. A small study found that 179 of 180 pheasants examined in the UK contained lead shot. Lead is toxic, and the process of cooking the meat causes the lead to leach out into the flesh of the pheasants, thus poisoning the consumers even if they don't swallow any of the lead shot. It is not surprising that pheasants contain shot (they are raised for shooting, not as livestock), but it is surprising that the shot is lead, since the shooting organisations have signed up to a voluntary ban on lead shot. I find the situation totally bizarre. Lead was also used for angling weights, but was banned in 1986 (see here). I cannot understand why lead shot for hunting was also not legally banned, rather than being phased out with a voluntary ban, and done decades ago. It just proves, if any more proof was needed, that governments cannot be trusted to look after the environment and the health of their people. |
Posted on 23rd March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Computer Hardware). |
This article on the BBC is just the latest in a series of news reports about the shortage of chips. Semiconductor firm Renesas suffered a fire in one of its clean rooms, causing extensive damage to one of its most advanced plants. There were already worldwide shortages of chips, causing delays in the manufacture of vehicles, computer hardware (especially GPUs) and mobile phones, and meaning that some new products that have been announced are simply not yet available. This fire will make it very much worse. The scale of the impact is made much worse by choices that the chip suppliers and their customers made a few years ago. The industry changed over to JIT (Just In Time) manufacturing, meaning that instead of keeping a stock of components (both at the supplier and the customers), items are manufactured based on orders and the required delivery dates. This means that there is no buffer of chip stock anywhere, and as soon as component manufacturing is interrupted, the manufacture of finished goods is also interrupted. JIT manufacturing has major cost benefits, due to reduced stock-holding, and is fine until something goes wrong; once there is a problem, it propagates through the manufacturing chain very quickly. Maybe the semiconductor industry is now rethinking their commitment to JIT manufacturing. |
Posted on 23rd March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This new story on New Atlas reports on growing evidence that COVID-19 can trigger the onset of diabetes. Diabetes is already known to be a factor which increases the risk from the coronavirus, making infection more severe and increasing the likelihood of hospitalisation, but now researchers are investigating a causal link of Covid-19 causing diabetes. This doesn't surprise me. I am fairly certain that I had Covid-19 last spring, which caused a stroke. Whilst in hospital, the doctors found that I had type-2 diabetes. Of course, I have no proof, because the hospital refused to test me for the coronavirus (an antibody test) despite my repeated pleas (the Rechts der Isar hospital in Munich is such a dreadful hospital!). |
Posted on 21st March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This article on Science Alert discusses the carbon impact of bottom trawling. It turns out that bottom trawling releases more carbon that has been stored in the the marine soil than the world's aviation industry: 1.47 billion tonnes of CO2. That's up to 20 percent of the atmospheric CO2 absorbed by the ocean each year and is "comparable to estimates of carbon loss in terrestrial soils caused by farming." As we try to reduce carbon emissions to limit global warming, we simply cannot afford to allow this to continue. That is in addition to the other terrible environmental impacts of bottom trawling, which destroys coral reefs (the nurseries and food sources for marine life) and other seabed ecosystems. Bottom trawling is like harvesting terrestrial farm crops by removing the topsoil; it is complete madness, and is patently not managing the oceans as renewable resources. Bottom trawling needs to be outlawed now, before it is too late. |
Posted on 19th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This news report on The Guardian makes the case for making ecocide into an international crime. I heartily approve. I have said many times that people (individuals, companies and even governments) will never act in an environmentally responsible way unless non-compliance has real impact, both legal and financial. This is probably the single most useful thing that we can do do save our planet, and the sooner the better. |
Posted on 19th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread. |
The Hafnium hack of Microsoft Exchange Servers (described here by The Verge) has now affected at least 60,000 Microsoft customers around the world, including many US government agencies, and the European Banking Authority (as reported here by the BBC). The original attacks by the Chinese hacking group "Hafnium" has now been adopted by other hacking groups to target other Exchange customers. The news article reports that Microsoft were made aware of the security vulnerability in early January, but the company didn't issue the first patches to close the security vulnerability until nearly two months later, after the attacks started. Microsoft also made a blog post which didn't explain the scope or scale of the attacks, in an apparent attempt to downplay the risks. This lackadaisical attitude to their customers' security is par for the course for Microsoft, and shows that they really don't care about the security of their products. |
Posted on 17th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Mutant Virus VariantsMore and more variants of the coronavirus are being discovered, as reported here by the BBC, and here by the BBC. Vaccines and ImmunityThere is a steady stream of new vaccines becoming available:
Of course, these new jabs need to be approved before they become available for the general population, but governments have shown that they can fast track these approvals, so there should only be a small delay. The French government is now saying that just one jab is needed for people previously infected with Covid-19, as reported here by the BBC. Do vaccines prevent transmission?The jury is definitely still out, on this point. Some research suggests that the vaccines do help prevent transmission, but some suggests not. This report on Reason suggests that there is strong evidence that vaccination curtails (i.e. doesn't completely prevent) virus transmission. This report on New Atlas also suggests mRNA vaccines (i.e. the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines) prevent onward transmission. Do the vaccines work against the new variants?This report on Prevention states that Pfizer and Moderna are testing a third "booster" dose for their Covid-19 vaccines, to ensure protection against variants (mutant strains) of the coronavirus. The report also states that Moderna has announced that it has finished making a variant-specific vaccine to target B.1.351, and the company is ready to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial of the vaccine. This report by the BBC says that Moderna's research shows that their vaccine appears to work against variants. This report by the BBC states that the AstraZeneca vaccine "offers less South Africa variant protection". The company is developing a modified jab, slated to be ready by the autumn, to combat the South Africa variant. How often will we need to get re-vaccinated?As reported here by the Mail Online, the UK government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has said that we will need re-vaccination on a yearly basis. Side-effects of vaccinesThere are understandable concerns about the side-effects of various vaccines:
The World Health Organisation (WHO), however, says that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks, and should continue to be used, as reported here by the BBC. Delays in Vaccination Roll-Out in EuropeAs reported by the BBC continental Europe is suffering major problems in getting their populace vaccinated, only partly due to supply issues. Germany, which prides itself on its organisational skills, is having a particularly hard time, due in part to their difficulties making their minds up about how to do things, as reported here by Politico. They offered self-test kits to all the schools and kindergartens, then backtracked. They also recently offered all kindergarten staff vaccinations, putting them ahead of many others in the queue, but what they offered was the AstraZeneca vaccine which it seems no-one wants. There seems to be no programme to pro-actively contact people when they can be given the vaccine; I am at higher than normal risk, being 65 years old and having type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure, but it seems that I need to take the initiative to register for immunisation. Germany continues to be reactive, rather than proactive, as shown by the debacle over the AstraZeneca vaccine. Fist they limited it to under 65s, then approved it for all ages, then promoted it for kindergarten workers, then barred it for all. TreatmentsA large number of herbal treatments have been tested for use against the coronavirus, as have many pre-existing and new drugs:
PreventionExperts continue to recommend wearing masks, social distancing and frequent hand washing or disinfection as the best way to avoid infection. They also recommend working from home wherever possible, although for many this is not an option. This piece on The Mirror also reports that people who wear glasses are up to three times less likely to catch Covid, according to a recent study. Having Covid-19It seems that men are at greater risk from Covid-19 (more likely to contract the virus, suffer from severe complications, and die from the disease) than women, according to a large study (reported on here by New Atlas). Even more worrying is this report on the Daily Mail, which describes research by Leicester University and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that a third of "recovered" Covid-19 patients are readmitted to hospital within five months and one-in-eight of the Covid patients then died. |
Posted on 17th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This news report on the BBC shows the Australians living up to their reputation. Papua New Guinea has a very serious outbreak of Covid-19, with the infection rate estimated at one in every three or four people. With a population of 9 million, that is over 2 million cases. Hospitals there are full. Papua New Guinea has ordered vaccine, but it is due for delivery in April, and will probably be delayed, because AstraZeneca are struggling to deliver on schedule. The Australian government has decided to "help" by sending 8,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. This vaccine, like most, is a two dose immunisation, so they are sending enough to protect 4,000 people. That is simply pathetic! |
Posted on 7th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (politics). |
This video report on "The Young Turks" got me thinking. The report covers the results of a University of Cambridge study of Americans, which shows that extreme conservatives have difficulties with cognitive tasks (i.e. they are less smart). This study joins a growing body of work on similar themes, which generally show that conservatives are less smart or have lower academic achievement. Another example is the study which showed that people in the UK who voted for Brexit had lesser academic achievement than average. We should be cautious in interpreting this data, because the studies show statistical correlation, not a cause and effect relationship. If, however, we accept the suggestion that being less smart makes one more likely to hold conservative or extremist views, we should be very cautious about any suggestion that we try to do something about it. That would put us on a slippery slope, potentially leading to things like:
That doesn't sound like the kind of society that I want to live in. We don't restrict the voting rights of people with mental disabilities, and we shouldn't even think about doing so based on people's political opinions. Even if someone's views are the result of reduced mental capabilities, those views are still valid opinions, and we shouldn't restrict their rights to express those views (within some obvious limits, like incitement to insurrection). The other key thing to remember is that not all extremist views lie at the conservative end of the political spectrum. I could give some examples, but some readers would probably be offended. Of course, that doesn't stop you from feeling better about yourself, knowing that your politics suggests that you are smarter than others. |
Posted on 6th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (AI and Robotics). |
This news piece on the BBC reports that President Biden is being pressured by the US National Security Commission to reject calls for a global ban on AI-powered autonomous weapons systems, and instead approve and fund their development. It seems likely that he will agree. As the BBC report points out, "The most senior AI scientists on the planet have warned ... about the consequences ...". It seems that their warnings are not being taken seriously. I have written about the risks of AI in general, and about AI weapons in particular, before. I am strongly against it/them. If you are unconvinced, I strongly recommend that you either watch the movie "Screamers", or read the book upon which it is based ("Second Variety" by Philip K. Dick). The story is very much to the point, very plausible and thoroughly frightening. The dangers of AI are a regular theme in science fiction, and many readers will have seen one or more of the movies or TV series that revolve around these dangers: "Avengers: Age of Ultron", the various movies in the "Terminator" franchise, "Next" (2020), "Westworld", "The Matrix" and sequels, "Blade Runner", "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Ex Machina" are just a few of the better known of this genre. I challenge anyone to watch all the above and not be worried about AI. The important thing to remember about the risks of AI and AI weapons is that, once the human race crosses the threshold into real AI, it will be impossible to go back. Once we start an AI based war, we are basically all doomed. |
Posted on 5th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
Another piece of bad science journalism appeared on "The Next Web" recently (here). The report describes how massive solar energy farms in the Sahara would cause less energy to be reflected back into space, and thus cause local heating, adding significantly to global warming (although it would have a positive effect on the local climate in the Sahara, with the local heating increasing rainfall). ![]() The article talks clearly about large farms of photoelectric panels, which do indeed reflect less energy than the sand of the desert. Sadly for the journalist, although luckily for the planet, the solar energy farms currently planned for the Sahara are not huge arrays of photoelectric cells, but are based on arrays of mirrors (which track the position of the sun in the sky) which focus sunlight on centrally positioned boilers to generate electricity, as in the artist's impression to the right, which is of the planned installation in Tunisia. The albedo (reflectivity) of such a solar energy farm is very similar to natural desert sand, and maybe even a little higher. There would therefore be little or no local heating from such a facility. That is not to say that there shouldn't be thorough environmental impact studies for such solar energy farms in the desert, but there seems no cause for panic. |
Posted on 5th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This news story on the BBC reports that indigenous amazonian groups, backed by NGOs in the US and France, are suing the French supermarket chain Casino, for deforestation in the Amazon caused by producing beef that the supermarket sells. The litigants say that they can directly link the beef being resold by Casino with a deforested area larger than Paris, in the amazonian jungle. This move is very much in line with the principle of "the polluter pays", and I heartily approve. All the while that the current situation, of the environmental costs of big agriculture and industry being paid by society as a whole, continues, there will will be no strong financial motive for companies to clean up their acts. I certainly don't see why I should pay, through higher taxes and costs of other goods, and through loss of my quality of life, for companies like Casino to maximise their profits through damage to our environment. Let's hope that their are many more such law suits. |
Posted on 5th March 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
After the recent report about panic in South Korea due to falling birth rates (here) comes a new report about falling birth rates in the USA, as reported by the BBC here, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. I still see this as a positive development. The world is badly overpopulated, resulting in climate change, species and habitat loss, and making pollution problems even worse. Given that the USA is, per capita, one of the worst polluters in the world, a falling population will benefit the USA and the planet as a whole. In most countries, falling birth rates change the age mix of the population, causing problems in funding pensions and health care, but the US government does not (with some exceptions for state employees and members of congress) fund such things (you're on your own, Jack!), so not a problem for Americans. If the US government was really worried about falling population, they could easily do more to encourage immigration (immigrants are generally younger than the average existing population, and help to fund pensions and health care), but I do see that happening. |
Posted on 23rd February 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
Bad news for freshwater anglers, reported here on the BBC, that freshwater fish are in catastrophic decline, with 80 species known to have gone extinct, 16 of those in the last year alone, particularly migratory species and large species. I find this particularly upsetting, having once been a keen angler. The head of the UN, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, called on the world to stop "a senseless and suicidal war on nature", as reported here on China.org.cn. I agree. On a slightly hopeful note, six experts have suggested charging additional taxes on international flights (and on bunker fuels – high-carbon fuels used by ships), as reported here on The Guardian. They suggest that the funds raised from these taxes go to developing countries to help them fund climate related costs. To me this seems a no brainer. The only way to reduce undesirable behaviour is to make it more expensive; the same logic as taxes on tobacco products. If the money thus raised goes to help poorer countries pay for the costs of reducing their environmental impact, and to compensate them for the economic damage caused by climate, even better. Just do it already! |
Posted on 23rd February 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Sexual Equality). |
Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has co-signed a bill to prevent transgender people born male from competing against people born female, as reported here, by WLOX. The Mississippi senate has already approved a state bill to the same effect, although it is not yet approved by the Mississippi House of Representatives. I already stated my opinion on this matter (here). My reasoning is based on the science; whilst I support the rights of transgender people in general, in sports, females who were born male can have an unfair physical advantage. I suspect the new bill will not become US Federal law. President Biden signed an executive order mandating that transgender women should be able to compete on female teams in school, so the Biden Administration seems to support transgender athletes. I suspect that this debate will go on for years, and may become a party-political football. |
Posted on 1st February 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
There is some bad news in this report on Popular Science. New research estimates that most of the last 12,000 years have been cooler than we previously believed. This in turn means that human activity has already caused even more warming than we previously thought. The good news is that the new data makes the actual temperature rise due to human-caused global warming more consistent with climate models; the bad news is that we have an even larger problem to fix than we had thought. |
Posted on 29th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
I was incensed, on reading this article on the BBC. What Larry Fink seems to be saying is that we need to go slowly on reducing carbon emissions, otherwise there could be drastic effects on on the global economy, and jobs in the UK could be lost. This is the same half-arsed attitude to saving the environment that we constantly hear from governments and the companies who have vested interests in continuing their polluting business as usual. Yes, of course there will be economic impact from saving our planet: companies, governments and individuals will make less money; this is inevitable; you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. The alternative, however, is for the global economy to be completely destroyed, due to environmental damage, with food and water shortages, mass unemployment, broken infrastructure, breakdowns in law and order, and so on. There are too many people and organisations, either in power or having influence over those who are, who are still pushing the line that we can only save the planet as long as it doesn't cost money or cause any inconvenience. We need to stop accepting this bullshit. |
Posted on 24th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (politics). |
Yesterday there was a protest in Munich by Trump supporters, complaining about "election fraud": a motorcade with banners and blaring loudspeakers, accompanied by a very large number of police vehicles, which drove past our apartment. This is mentioned on my News Blog. My first thought was that it is time that they got over it, and accepted that the will of the people has finally been done. On reflection, however, I can see the reason for their disbelief. The weird electoral college system in the USA is inherently biased in favour of the Republican Party. Add to this that every year more electoral boundaries are deliberately redrawn to favour Republicans, and Democratic voters are disenfranchised; basically, whenever they are in power in any state, the Republicans abuse their power to tilt the next election further in their favour. Given these biases, it is actually quite amazing that the Democrats won, and understandable that Republicans are shocked that, despite them rigging the system so heavily, they lost by so much. The election result is a testament to just how disenchanted the US electorate is with Trump and his cronies; something that the Republican Party failed to fully understand. |
Posted on 17th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Vaccines and ImmunityThis article by the BBC reports that the Chinese vaccine, Sinovac, has been shown to be 50.4% effective in clinical trials in Brazil. 50.4% is not great, compared to the figures for the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, but still better than nothing. Moderna claims that its coronavirus vaccine will provide immunity from the disease for at least one year, as reported here on Axios and here on BGR. A year or more is way better than the 4 to 6 months that experts originally estimated for the vaccines. This piece on The New York Times reports that the Pfizer vaccine works against key Covid-19 mutations, including those found in Britain and South Africa. A BioTech firm, IosBio - based in Sussex, England, has announced that it is developing a Covid-19 vaccine in the form of a pill, as described here by The Irish Post. The company is currently testing the immunisation pill in clinical trials. Analysis of data about the 3.2 million recorded cases of Covid-19 in the UK to date has shown that infection provides around 5 months protection from reinfection by the coronavirus, as reported here on Cosmopolitan. TreatmentsThis article on the Hindustani Times reports that the use of the diabetes drug metformin, before a diagnosis of Covid-19, is associated with a threefold decrease in mortality in Covid-19 patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a racially diverse study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Metformin is used to treat type 2 diabetes which is not severe enough to justify insulin injections (I take it myself). "The mechanisms may involve metformin's previously described anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic effects", since anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic drugs are now a standard part of the treatment protocol for the coronavirus. A large clinical trial has begun in the UK of inhalable interferon beta, as reported here by the BBC. This treatment is intended for patients hospitalised due to Covid-19; it costs £2,000 for a course of treatment. The BBC reports, here, that two anti-inflammatory drugs, tocilizumab and sariluma can cut deaths by a quarter in patients who are sickest with Covid. The drugs each cost around £750 to £1,000 for a course of treatment. The recommendation seems to be to administer these two drugs in addition to dexamethasone (way cheaper, at £5 for a course of treatment). This report on BGR describes how doctors have begun experimenting with the use of stem-cell treatments for severely ill Covid-19 patients, with some success. These are not, however, proper clinical trials; such clinical trials would need to be successfully concluded before this treatment is approved and made widely available, which takes significant time. PreventionThis report on "Eat This, Not That" mentions the research done and ongoing on the use of vitamin and mineral supplements (vitamin C, D, B6, zinc and magnesium) to prevent severe infections of Covid-19, although some of the trials have been inconclusive, and have contradictory results. There shouldn't be any surprises here: many people are at least lightly deficient in vitamins and minerals, due to poor diet and the impact of processed food. For such people, taking supplements is likely to boost their immunity - Duh! A report from New Atlas, here, a study investigating the relationship between COVID-19 severity and the gut microbiome. The observational research suggests specific microbial patterns correlate with disease severity and those bacterial imbalances may account for some cases of “long COVID”. Again (as above), if you are healthy, you are not so likely to get severely ill from an infection. Having Covid-19This article by The Mirror describes 10 signs that you may have already had Covid and may therefore be protected (immune) for up to 5 months. There have been several articles about the potential long term effects of a Covid-19 infection:
The FutureCNBC reports, here, on the prediction by the CEO of Moderna that Covid-19 and the resulting and overwhelmed hospitals will be with us forever, and that Covid-19 will become an endemic disease, meaning it will become present in communities at all times, though likely at lower levels than it is now. This would mean the wearing of masks and social distancing will be our lives forever, and that travel will be much rarer and riskier than it used to be. Taking a slightly less pessimistic tone is this report on "Mic", which says that Covid-19 may become nothing more than an annoying, common cold-like illness. I guess that would be after the coronavirus has killed most of the more vulnerable people, or nearly everyone has been vaccinated. |
Posted on 24th December 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
I saw a very interesting report on the BBC about the psychological effects of medications. StatinsThe first part of the article focuses on the side-effects of statins (I am interested, since I was put back on statins in June), which apparently can make you bad tempered and aggressive. When discussing the report with Sheryl, she told me that I had definitely become more grumpy since starting the statins again, but luckily not as bad as some cases described in the BBC report (broken marriages, destroyed careers, and a surprising number of men who have come unnervingly close to murdering their wive). It turns out that there is quite a lot of research that shows that reductions in cholesterol levels make people and animals more aggressive. Until now the main issue that I had with statins was having to give up grapefruit; the reason why I stopped taking them before. It seems that statins' incompatibility with grapefruit is just the thin end of the wedge. RequipRequip, a drug to treat (not to cure) the symptoms of Parkinson's was blamed for turning a man "into a gambler and gay sex addict, and was responsible for risky behaviours that had led to him being raped". L-dopaThere's strong evidence that the drug L-dopa, used to treat Parkinson’s disease, increases the risk of Impulse Control Disorders (ICDs), which make it more difficult to resist temptations and urges. Some patients suddenly start taking more risks, becoming pathological gamblers, excessive shoppers, and sex pests. DuromineThe anti-obesity drug Duromine was blamed in 2015 by a man who targeted young girls on the Internet. He used the argument that Duromine made him do it; that it reduced his ability to control his impulses. Sedatives and AntidepressantsEvery now and again, murderers try to blame sedatives or antidepressants for their offences. Paracetamol (Acetaminophen)Paracetamol is taken in enormous quantities around the world, not least because it is almost impossible to overdose, and it reduces fever and pain. Bizarrely, paracetamol can also make us feel better after a rejection. A study revealed that paracetamol significantly reduces our ability to feel positive empathy. "Empathy doesn’t just determine if you’re a 'nice' person, or if you cry while you're watching sad movies. The emotion comes with many practical benefits, including more stable romantic relationships, better-adjusted children, and more successful careers – some scientists have even suggested that it's responsible for the triumph of our species." Asthma MedicationsIt seems that it has been known for a while that the medications used to treat asthma are sometimes associated with behavioural changes, such as an increases in hyperactivity and the development of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) symptoms. This is in addition to a recently discovered connection between these two conditions, which means that having one increases the risk of having the other by around 50%. ConclusionThere are a few problems around this issue.
We should therefore assume that psychological side-effects might be more widespread and more severe than this report suggests. Let's hope that more research is done in this area. |
Posted on 13th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (politics). |
Democracy is not well in America. Few people will not already be aware of the invasion of the Capitol in Washington DC by Trump supporters last week. This report on Rolling Stone explains that it was actually way worse than it appeared from the news coverage at the time. The protesters "erected a gallows with a noose right outside the Capitol" and some of them were captured on video chanting, "Hang Mike Pence". An Associated Press photographer was attacked as he covered the attempted coup, and another photographer was thrown to the ground by the mob. Five people died in the protests. A protester was photographed in full tactical gear and holding plastic zip ties, which were almost certainly intended to restrain hostages. In another story, reported here by Axios, the Pennsylvania GOP refused to seat a Democrat who won in the November election, thus preventing him from voting, and removed the Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman from presiding over the chamber. Trump's term may be almost over, but I am still worried that, in the little time that he has, he may declare martial law, thus preventing Joe Biden from taking office (which I first suggested as a possibility here, in June 2020). I hope I am wrong. |
Posted on 13th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
As reported here, by the BBC, the government in South Korea is very worried because its population has fallen, for the first time ever. The country already had the lowest birth rate of any country, and now they plan to introduce major financial incentives for people to have more children. Apparently, South Korea didn't get the memo about the climate crisis, caused by our planet being overpopulated. If they had, they would hopefully understand that a small reduction in population is a good thing, for the planet as a whole, and for South Korea in particular. In a future of food and water shortages, having low and falling population will be a distinct advantage. Unfortunately, they are more concerned about how to fund their pension and health care systems, and workers to generate tax revenue, than environmental issues. Time to get with the programme, South Korea! |
Posted on 12th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
Just in case you were in any doubt that Boeing deliberately put profit ahead of air safety with the development and certification of their 737 Max, the company has just "agreed" to pay a $2.5bn fine for their conspiracy to do just that; in effect they have now admitted guilt. To cap it all, this week came news of the crash of another Boeing 737 (this time not a 737 Max, but an older design), as reported here and here by the BBC. Given the already massive impact of Covid-19 on the airline industry, and the fallout of the 737 Max crashes, Boeing will struggle to survive (although the US government is not likely to let them go bust). When I next take a flight, I will certainly try very hard to ensure that I will not have to travel on a Boeing aircraft. |
Posted on 12th January 2021 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
I wrote in June 2020 (here) about the risks of GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops that the US is trying to foist on the world. Brexit has only just fully come into effect, freeing the UK from EU food safety regulations, but already the British government is getting ready to change the UK regulations to allow the growing in Britain, and the import from the US, of such crops, as reported here by the BBC. It didn't take them long! I am sure that the Trump administration applied their habitual blackmail to speed the deregulation process. I am very glad that I live in the EU, and continue to be protected by their comprehensive food safety rules. If you live in the UK, your best hope is that the new regulations there will at least insist that GMO products are clearly labeled as such, so that you can at least make your own choice (although I suspect that they will not, again due to pressure from the US). |
Posted on 24th December 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
There was some surprising news today, here on WSB-TV. Research in Georgia suggests that the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles) "may also provide protection from getting COVID-19 or reduce the severity of the disease". This is surprising because vaccines usually only protect against the specific diseases for which they were developed, and although measles, mumps and rubella are all viral diseases, none are caused by a coronavirus. Nevertheless, this is good news, if borne out by other research, and could explain why children have been less severely affected by Covid-19, since children in many countries are routinely immunised with the MMR vaccine. |
Posted on 12th December 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
There has been quite a lot of news about Covid-19 in the last few weeks, much of it good news, so here is a summary. VaccinesSeveral vaccines against the corona virus have completed trials. The UK and the US have each granted emergency approval for a vaccine, and the UK immunised their first person. The European Union is not far behind. Russia began vaccinations even before trials were complete. Brazil has decided to go with the Chinese vaccine, and is preparing to begin their immunisation programme. So far, all approved vaccines require two injections, separated by a few weeks. No country expects to have the majority of their population vaccinated within a year, so lockdowns and travel restrictions are not likely to ease any time soon. Immunisations will be prioritised for high risk people (the elderly and front-line medical staff); if you are not at high risk, expect to wait at least a few months before you can get your injections. Also worth noting, as reported here by BGR, for the Pfizer vaccination at least, immunisation is not recommended for certain people:
There have also been several warnings that the vaccination (usually the second injection) can have quite strong side-effects: fever, soreness around the injection site, and generally feeling unwell for a couple of days. I have heard from several people who are saying that they will not get the coronavirus immunisation, even if it is made mandatory, and quite a few who want to wait until there is more safety data before getting it. I don't think these people are unusual. What this may mean is that the limitations to the speed with which the general population will get inoculated have more to do with people's concerns about safety than with the logistics of giving injections to billions of people. As reported here by The Huffington Post, there is not yet enough data for us to know how long immunity from a vaccination will last, and therefore how often we will all need to repeat the vaccination. It could be as often as every four months; in time there will be better data available to answer this vital question. Safe BehaviourDespite increases in the number of infections and hospitalisations in very many countries (Germany now has more daily infections than ever before), and tighter restrictions (e.g. curfews) across the world, people continue to engage in unsafe behaviour: not wearing masks, not social-distancing, going to clubs and bars, etc. I have seen several videos in Facebook in the last few days of people at dances in Australia. One surprising development for us is that the supermarket that we use on a weekly basis has removed its shopping cart disinfection station. Sheryl now wipes down our shopping cart with pocket disinfectant wipes before we shop. I understand that many people are getting emotionally exhausted by so many months of restrictions, and feel the need for a bit of normal life, but failure to behave sensibly is a guarantee of continuing high rates of infection, which continues to kill some at risk people. Seriously, people, follow the rules and guidelines! It is not just your own life that you are putting at risk! If you doubt that wearing a mask helps, see this report by Forbes. The Origin and Time-LineA new Italian study, reported here by BGR, shows that Covid-19 was spreading in Europe "at least three weeks before China announced that a new infectious illness was found in Wuhan". This casts further doubt that the coronavirus pandemic originated in China, and supports the significant number of anecdotal stories of people in Europe having Covid-19 in December, or even November 2019. TreatmentThere have also been some developments in treatments for Covid-19. This report on Entrepreneur describes a study on ferrets, which showed that an anti-viral drug, Molnupiravir, was able to completely stop the transmission of the coronavirus after just 24 hours of treatment. Obviously, human trials are still needed before it can be approved for use on humans, but it could eventually add another valuable treatment option. Also, a report by News Medical describes an extract from a novel cannabis plant (i.e. not ordinary street variety cannabis) may offer protection against infection by Covid-19. Back to Normal Life?The short answer is that normal life will not return any time soon, and maybe never. That is the considered opinion of Dr. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, as reported here by Newsweek. So forget clubbing, vacations to tropical beach resorts, ski holidays, shows and concerts, and just generally going out for drinks or meals. That sucks, big time! |
Posted on 1st November 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (the environment). |
This piece on Yahoo-Australia caught my attention. It describes the reason behind Nestlé's temporary change of the KitKat logo to the recycling symbol. It seems that nearly half of Australian consumers don’t know how to recycle properly. KitKat wrappers are made of soft plastic, which can be recycled, but customers don't seem to know this. Of course, this problem is not unique to Australia; there is huge ignorance about what to recycle and how, all across the world. Here in Germany, where the public is generally well-informed, there is also a lot of ignorance about recycling: I regularly see paper and cardboard put into the recycling bin in plastic bags; I see expanded polystyrene, which cannot be recycled, put into the plastic recycling bin; I have been told by neighbours that you can only put "bio" food waste (which means waste from organic produce) into the "bio-Müll" (compost bin); many people still put old batteries into the normal garbage; the list goes on. Part of the problem is the poor labelling on products; yes, it says that you should recycle the packaging, but not, but not into which recycling bin. Another problem is that there is a different system of separation of recycling in different locations. This is exacerbated by the prevalence of mixed material packaging (most often paper and plastic together, often very hard to separate). We (consumers, governments, and manufacturers) need to do better. |
Posted on 1st November 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
I found the decision reported in this story, published on the BBC about 5 days ago, to be utterly irresponsible. Doctors in the Belgian city of Liège who are infected with Covid-19 have been asked to keep working. This puts patients at even greater risk of infection with the coronavirus. I just cannot imagine the thought process of whoever made this bizarre decision. I suppose it may have one advantage: it will mean that people will be strongly discouraged from going to hospital unless they have a real emergency, reducing the load on the hospitals. |
Posted on 24th October 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
It is been a while since I added to this blog thread about Covid-19. Since then there has been a steady stream of news about the coronavirus, so here is a summary. SeverityAlthough many people who get infected have only mild symptoms (like, apparently, Donald Trump), there are continuing instances of more severe cases. One example is Chris Cross, known for his late–‘70s hit “Ride Like the Wind” who had a very severe case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare side-effect of Covid-19 which attacks the body's nerves, and left him paralysed for 10 days. He still can't move around easily, months later. You can read more here on Variety. Many people assume that, if you have had Covid-19, getting reinfected will result in less severe symptoms. That was not the case here, on the BBC, where the second infection was much more severe than the first. Rising Numbers of CasesI am not going to post links to news stories about the second wave of coronavirus being suffered my many countries, because they will be out of date the instant that I post this. Most people know the latest news about infection rates in their own country: cases are going up significantly all across Europe, the US, and India, and hospital beds are filling up with severe Covid-19 cases. The Czech Republic has it very bad right now, as has France. Lockdowns and curfews are being imposed all over. Restaurants and bars are either closed, or face restrictions (reduced opening times, limited numbers of customers, limits on alcohol sales, etc.). It is mandatory to wear masks on public transport, in shops, and even on the street, in many places. Things will definitely get worse before they get better. Part of the problem is that people are getting fed up with the restrictions, and are being less careful. More people are going to the gym, to the hairdresser, going to bars, clubs and restaurants, and even going on vacation to other countries; all of these are high risk activities. People are resuming business travel. Is it any wonder that more people are getting infected? MedicationVaccinationsCurrently there are 200 vaccines being developed, of which 44 have started human trials (according to this article on DW.com {Deutsche Welle}), and getting closer to approval. Front runners include:
Despite the claims/promises by Donald Trump that a vaccine might be available in the US before the US elections, it is not realistic that any will be approved this year. Even when they are, doses still need to be manufactured, distributed and administered. Given that many vaccines require two doses to be effective, and that top-up immunisations might be needed every four months, the cost and complexity of widespread vaccination is enormous (bear in mind that the human population of our planet is over 5 billion); it is unlikely that widespread protection from the virus will be possible before the end of 2022 or later. TreatmentsDoctors seem to be getting better at treating Covid-19, probably because many have finally read the recent research. The result is that death rates from Covid-19 are falling in some countries, and recovery times are also getting lower. They are starting to understand that, in most cases, ventilators do not help those who experience breathing difficulties, and indeed make people worse, because their issue is not with getting air into their lungs, but with absorbing oxygen (and flushing out carbon dioxide) from (and to) that air. Several medications have been shown to help coronavirus sufferers: dexamethasone and other steroids; interferon, antibody treatments, remdesivir and other anti-virals; ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatories; and heparin and other anti-coagulants. There has also been some useful research on diagnostic tools to determine whether people need treatment with some of the more extreme regimes, such as described here on BGR. PreventionApart from the obvious techniques to avoid infection (wearing a mask, social distancing, disinfecting your groceries and staying at home), there has been new research on prevention. Some (a small number of) people seem to be naturally immune, but it is not yet proven and at the moment it is not possible to tested for such immunity. In the future it may be possible. People with blood type O seem to have some degree of protection from Covid-19, as described here. Vitamin D supplements seem to offer some protection, in people who are deficient in vitamin D. Trials are under way to prove this, as described here. The PrognosisThings are not going to get better any time soon: not this year, and maybe not even next year. The concept of herd immunity has been shown to be a non-starter. Vaccinations will probably start in 2021, but most people will not be able to get one until 2022 or 2023 (the same situation as with testing for the coronavirus, which has taken ages to become widely available), so the general populace will not be protected for quite some time. By now, pretty much everyone knows people who have had Covid-19. Many of us have heard of people (friends of friends, or distant relatives) who have died. All this will continue for the foreseeable future. This means that our lives will continue to be affected by the coronavirus: lockdowns and quarantines, wearing masks, social distancing, working from home, disinfecting groceries, no vacations (if you have any sense), countries to which you can't travel for business, eating and drinking at home and basically no social life. Thank goodness for the Internet! |
Posted on 13th October 2020 |
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The more I read and think about this report on The Guardian, the angrier I get. I assume that Senator Graham meant the statement as a denial of racism in South Carolina, his home state, but it comes across as confirmation (as if we needed any more confirmation) that there is systemic racism in the USA. He said that African Americans and immigrants can [safely] go anywhere in South Carolina, as long as they are conservative. The word conservative is ambiguous in this context, but from his other comments that blacks and immigrants "just have to share our values", it seems that he means politically conservative (i.e. Republican), rather than a comment on their behaviour or dress. To paraphrase Lindsey Graham into language more suitable for the subject matter, he is saying that "everything will be fine, so long as them niggers don't get uppity". Nowadays, in America, uppity means things like "driving while black", "babysitting while black", "operating a business while black", wanting to vote, expressing an opinion to a police officer, wanting an equal wage for equal work, wanting an education, and defending your home against armed invaders who turn out to be cops. In the past, being uppity also meant riding in the front of the bus, using a toilet designated for whites, sitting in the whites-only part of a restaurant and wanting to be free. Clearly, things have improved over the years for minorities, but not by much. Senator Graham's words are totally unacceptable; the man is a dyed in wool racist. |
Posted on 27th September 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Air Safety). |
As reported in this BBC article, the report on the crashes of the Boeing 737 Max is finally out, and it firmly blames both Boeing and the FAA (the US Federal Aviation Administration). As was clear from Boeing's press releases on the subject, the aircraft manufacturer has a "culture of concealment". Given this is now established fact, why would any of us believe anything the company says in future? They have been more concerned with how things appear to the flying public than about the safety of their end customers. The FAA also rightly comes in for heavy criticism, having failed in its duty off oversight and certification. The FAA only really has one responsibility, to ensure that aircraft are safe, and they failed to do so. In effect they colluded with Boeing's concealment of facts. Now Boeing's reputation with airlines and the public is justly "in the toilet", as is the FAA's. There was a time when certification by the FAA was effectively simply rubber stamped by other certification authorities; those days are over, which will increase aircraft costs and delay the in-service dates of new planes. |
Posted on 27th September 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Bad Journalism). |
Journalists bemoan the poor understanding of science by the general public, and then have the hypocrisy to publish articles like this report on th BBC. The piece is about the much anticipated presentation by Elon Musk, about Tesla's new battery technology. It repeats figures from the presentation about the performance improvements that the new battery tech. offers. In short, the new batteries will have:
Item #1 should translate directly into 5 times more range. The only reasons that it wouldn't are:
Either the journalists at the presentation were so mesmerized by it all that they didn't challenge this inconsistency, or they did, but the author of the BBC article (James Clayton) understands so little about basic science that he ignored this glaring issue. I expect such poor journalism from some publications, but I had higher hopes of the BBC. |
Posted on 22nd July 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Foreign Languages). |
Greta Thunberg has been in the news again today, because she just announced that she will donate the €1M prize money from the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity to charity. It reminded me to check on the proper way to pronounce her surname. Having worked in Sweden for about 6 months, and having a Swedish derived surname, I was always sure that people were pronouncing her name wrongly, but no-one would believe me. Today I found out why: a Google search for "proper pronunciation of Thunberg" offers several YouTube videos, virtually all of which claim that the name is pronounced Toon-berg (examples here and here. In this video of Greta speaking at the European Parliament, Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), she introduces herself (at exactly minute 8 of the video), pronouncing it correctly as Toon-berry. This search on forvo.com also has the correct pronunciation. Swedish pronunciation is hard - just use forvo.com to play the pronunciations for "sju" (seven), "Köpenhamn" (Copenhagen), "kiosk" (kiosk) and "sjuksyster" (nurse) to get an idea of how hard - but I believe it is important to pronounce people's names properly (insulting if you do not). |
Posted on 5th July 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Political Correctness). |
It really seems that political correctness is getting thoroughly out of hand! Recently, Sheryl and I watched the movie "Rush Hour", starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. Sheryl mentioned that this film is now considered to not be politically correct, because it contains racist words and phrases (anti-Chinese and anti-black). The movie was made in 1998, and the world at the time was much more racist than it is now (and even now, the world is still very racist). The social and historical context is thus racist, and a film set against this background needs to represent this context (without condoning it). Movies that do not properly represent their social and historical context are flawed, and generally uninteresting (no-one will watch them). Lots of other kinds of context are apparently allowed to be represented (and even exaggerated) in movies (sex, violence, espionage, war, science, technology and crime, for example) without the self-appointed PC watchdogs crying foul, but racism now has to be whitewashed (and no, whitewashed is not a racist term). I am getting really fed-up with this PC nonsense! Another example, reported here on People, is the decision by Hulu to pull an episode of the Golden Girls from their catalogue, because of a scene where the stars are wearing mud-masks; not black-face, but a beauty treatment. All this because Hulu were worried that audiences would misinterpret this scene as racist. How far are companies willing to go to guard against the ignorance and stupidity of some of their consumers? In other PC news (here, on the BBC), Twitter and other companies are dropping the terms "master", "slave" and "blacklist" (very widely used in software) in favour of more inclusive language. I can understand dropping the use of the word "blacklist", which has racist origins, but "master" and "slave" are words that pre-date the enslavement of blacks and have meanings that accurately describe the functions and relationships of things, which are not based on racist models or analogies. The word "master" is not modelled on a white slave-owning person, and "slave" is not based on an enslaved black person. Another aspect of political correctness is the beatification by public opinion of the victims of police violence. No matter what the history of such a victim is, once dead they are treated as a saint, and any suggestion to the contrary is met with a vicious backlash by the PC police. An example is George Floyd. There is no question that George Floyd was brutally and unjustly murdered, but he was no saint. Nevertheless, Ron Johnson, who was head of consumer products at Riot Games had to resign (as reported here by the BBC) over a meme he posted about George Floyd, which included the statements "no reason to condone his killing" and "This type of criminal lifestyle never results in good things" (about George Floyd, not the police officer who killed him). Being factually correct seems to be no protection from these kinds of backlash. There is a well known phrase, widely quoted in several variants: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it". How can we learn from history if our history is whitewashed and we cannot discuss the facts and implications of our history? Political correctness (among other things) is now standing in the way of our learning from our history, and thus guaranteeing that we will repeat it. |
Posted on 18th July 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the success, or failure, of various nations in dealing with Covid-19. At one extreme there is New Zealand, which has been hailed as a roaring success, because they had so few cases, and almost no recent cases (and all of those due to visitors from outside of the country). At the opposite end of the spectrum there are countries like the USA and Brazil, where the coronavirus is raging out of control. In between, there are countries such as Spain, Britain, Ireland, Australia, Sweden and many more, where the virus is surging again, after seeming to be under control, as lockdown restrictions are gradually eased. Even in Germany, where I live, the number of cases of Covid-19 have increased with the reduction of restrictions on travel and public gatherings. This New York Times report provides an excellent summary of the global spread of the outbreak and the resulting deaths, and this search yields a graphical summary where you can select (in a pull-down menu) the country for which you want data. So, let us look more closely at the extremes.
The countries between the extremes have had varying degrees of success in limiting the spread of Covid-19 and the resulting deaths, due to the varying strengths of their lockdown regulations, the amount of testing, and the quality, availability and cost of their health-care systems. Also in the mix are cultural differences, such as people’s willingness to wear masks and socially distance, the general level of public and personal hygiene (and even the availability of soap and water in some places), the varying habits regarding social gatherings and the prevalence of the sharing of food and drink. Many places have been rolling back recent easings of lockdown restrictions as infections surge again (see here, on The Guardian). The key here is that these differences, country to country, are only about the spread of infections. Limiting the spread of Covid-19 inherently limits the spread of immunity, however short-term and limited in scope that immunity may be, so success in controlling the spread has nothing to do with defeating the disease, and actually has the opposite effect. In summary, herd immunity will not be achieved in any part of the world within the next year, for simple logistical reasons (as pointed out above, in the article about Mississippi). This is further complicated by the fact that immunity from infection may only last a few months (see this report on The Guardian), meaning that it will never become widespread enough to provide herd immunity. This is unfortunate, since herd immunity was the basis of the exit strategies of governments around the world (see here). We urgently need a new exit strategy. The best hope for immunity is a vaccine, which may be available by the end of 2020, but current expectations are that a vaccine will give only short-term protection, possibly meaning immunisations being regularly repeated (maybe every 3 to 6 months). |
Updated on 26th June 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
This article on SCMP is a disgraceful piece of sensationalist journalism. It completely misrepresents the research results. As I wrote in this post, if you are infected with Covid-19, either your body mounts an immune response, or you die of the disease. This report, on the New York Times, paints a more balanced picture: that the immunity that you acquire from the infection "may last only two to three months, especially in people who never showed symptoms while they were infected". Immunity might last longer, for some, but in others it will not. This is in line with the many reports of patients getting infected more than once with Covid-19, typically after about two months. Of course, this new information has several implications:
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Posted on 21st June 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is celebrating "a remarkable British scientific achievement", a drug that has been shown to be effective in treating Covid-19, as reported by the BBC here. The headline of this story, "Dexamethasone proves first life-saving drug", probably based on UK government a press release, is actually not true. Dexamethasone is not the first. Trials of remdesivir, a drug developed to treat ebola, have shown that it is effective in treating Covid-19, as reported here, by Ars Technica about a month ago. There have also been very hopeful animal trials of a new drug from Celltrion (it seems that this new drug does no yet have a name), as reported in this story on Fox News. For most of us, however, the news about dexamethasone is not really relevant. Dexamethasone, a low-dose steroid medication has been shown to increase the survival rates of people with severe infections: patients on ventilators (survival rates increased by a third) and patients receiving oxygen (survival rates increased by a fifth). The reason why it doesn't affect most of us? Dexamethasone does not seem to help people with milder symptoms of coronavirus: those who do not need help breathing. Given that around 95% patients who are infected with the coronavirus recover without even being admitted to hospital, and not all patients admitted to hospital need oxygen or a ventilator, most infections will not be helped by treatment with this drug. There is something that worries me about this announcement. Several studies (reported, for example, here, here and here) have shown that SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus which causes Covid-19) is not in fact a kind of pneumonia, but a blood vessel disease. It damages the blood vessels, causing lots of small blood clots; these clots cause not only the symptoms in the lungs, but also the widespread organ damage that some patients suffer, and the side-effects such as strokes and heart attacks. As a result of these analyses.some of the researchers have recommended treatment with a combination of anti-inflammatories (e.g. steroids or ibuprofen), anti-coagulants, anti-virals (e.g. drugs like remdesivir) and antibiotics (to treat the bacterial opportunistic secondary infections that often occur with viral diseases). So, it really shouldn't come as a surprise that dexamethasone (a steroid) and remdesivir (an anti-viral) are effective treatments, but for many doctors it seems, nevertheless to be a surprise. It just confirms that many doctors are not paying attention to current research, and as a result are putting their patients at risk. |
Posted on 21st June 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Nutrition & Food Safety). |
I have previously written about GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops and US attempts to foist them on UK and other consumers (here, here, here and here). If you think I am making a fuss about nothing, I recommend that you read this report on "Collective Evolution". The report is based on information provided by an ex-Monsanto employee, and is primarily about GMO potatoes, but the risks (although different in some details) apply to other GMO crops. The article makes the point well enough that I don't need to elaborate. If you are not concerned after reading it, then you are probably beyond help. Although EU food safety regulations provide some protections, the situation in the UK after Brexit will be much worse, once the USA gets the trade deal that it wants with Britain. |
Posted on 21st June 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Legal). |
Not only is the USA the world leader in extraterritorial legislation (see my previous posts on the subject here and here), but when there are no legislative avenues open to them, they resort to blackmail! I am referring to this article by the BBC, which reports on the sanctions that the USA has imposed on those members of the ICC (International Criminal Court) involved in the investigation of possible war crimes by members of the US military in Afghanistan. These sanctions have been imposed not only on judges, prosecutors and investigators, but on all ICC employees involved in the case, and their family members. The sanctions include blocking the assets of International Criminal Court (ICC) employees and barring them from entering the USA. Although the USA is not a signatory to the ICC agreement, all of the EU, plus Afghanistan (where the crimes are alleged to have happened) are (see the list of signatories here). That means that the court has legal jurisdiction over the location of the alleged crimes, and also that the ICC employees are acting within the law. Generally, war crimes are defined by the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Conventions, all of which were signed by the USA. US law even allows the prosecution of US military personnel for war crimes (see here). President Trump has, however, pardoned US troops who had been prosecuted in the US for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. Since those presidential pardons did not convince the ICC (not surprisingly, since Donald the Hutt has no jurisdiction in The Hague or Afghanistan) he has now decided to illegally sanction members of the ICC, in the hope of halting the investigation. A president who blackmails his friends is no friend, and should be treated accordingly (as in this, unfortunately fictional, movie scene). |
Posted on 11th June 2020 |
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This report by the BBC shows just how difficult it will be to reform policing in the USA. By now most people will have seen the video of the peaceful 75-year-old protester, Martin Gugino, being pushed to the ground by the police in Buffalo (if you haven't seen the video, it is in the BBC report). Mr. Gugino was seriously injured (the video shows a large pool of blood forming on the pavement from a head wound), and was taken to hospital. Once the video came out, the two officers involved were suspended. The main point of the BBC article is that the 57 remaining officers in the Buffalo tactical unit have resigned from the tactical unit (they haven't resigned from the police force) in support of their suspended colleagues. That is despite the video evidence, which shows that Martin Gugino acted in a peaceful and non-threatening manner, and that the police brutality was totally unjustified. This is a case where the well known rule applies: if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. In effect, they are trying to blackmail the police department into allowing criminal police brutality. They seem to want to remain members of the police, but the world doesn't need officers like them; they should be fired. |
Posted on 11th June 2020 |
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By now, everyone must have noticed what is going on in the USA, with the murder by police of George Floyd, the resulting "Black Lives Matter" protests, and the police responses to the protests. There seems no question that there is something to protest about: there is an increasingly well documented history of racism, not just by police, and murders in America. It is well past time that something was done about this problem. What is rather more questionable is the government response to the protests. By any standards, the response has been very heavy handed: police using military equipment and riot gear to police the protests, assaults on and injuries to peaceful protesters, troops deployed to protect some sites, tear gas used to clear peaceful protesters so that President Trump could have a photo-opportunity holding a bible (which he held upside down - this in the country where flying the US flag upside down is considered by most to be a crime!), curfews, and so on. Admittedly there has been some violence by protesters, and some looting; opportunist criminals and people who simply want a fight (the police excuse for the extra-judicial killings of blacks seem suitable here too: "a few bad protesters"). Most of the protesters, however, are peaceful. Donald Trump has nevertheless told local politicians and law enforcement groups that they need to "dominate the streets". One has to ask:
Personally, I suspect that the strategy is to further inflame the situation, to create an excuse for the introduction of martial law in the USA. That would allow:
I am not saying that this will definitely happen, and I dearly hope that it won't, but the risk is great enough, and the consequences so enormous, that US citizens should think seriously about what can be done to ensure that it doesn't happen. President Trump seems to be working overtime to justify my new nickname for him: Donald the Hutt. |
Posted on 17th May 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
After I wrote this, about governments' lockdown exit strategies, I posted a copy on Facebook. I received a number negtive comments. Some were about the issue of immunity: people saying that we don't currently know if our bodies have any ability to acquire immunity from infection by Covid-19. This BBC article gives a good summary of the current situation, based on expert opinions. The key take-away is the statement that "The question is not whether you become immune, it's how long for". Basically, given that there are no effective treatments for Covid-19, if your body doesn't mount an immune response to the coronavirus, you will die of the disease. The only thing that we don't yet know is how long the resulting immunity lasts, although the fact that antibody tests are now available to show whether you have had the disease shows that immunity lasts for at lest a few weeks or months, at least for many people. There were also comments to the effect that my opinions about the exit strategy were wrong, and based on no evidence. I found this odd, because the UK government, and others, have talked about herd immunity quite a bit. In the absence of a vaccine, herd immunity can only come from being infected (and recovering, obviously). Governments are hoping that the populace develops herd immunity, and the only way to get that is for enough people to be infected, and for them to develop immunity. My opinions on the exit strategy are therefore based on published official statements and policy. Governments around the world are gradually relaxing their lockdowns, and carefully monitoring infection rates as they do so, to maximise infection rates within the limits of their health-care systems' ability to cope, all to build up herd immunity. |
Posted on 17th April 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
People are starting to ask "What is the Exit Strategy [from lockdown]?" and "Why is my government being so cagey about it?" Your government is reluctant to explain their exit strategy because they believe (probable rightly) that you will be upset when you find out, so here is an explanation. Governments want the lockdown to be as short as possible, because of the impact on the economy and their tax revenues. The only purpose of the lockdown is to limit the rate of infection to something that a country's medical infrastructure can handle. As long as hospitals and medical services can cope, governments want the infection rate to be as high as possible. Catching Covid-19 is the only way that the population can currently get immunity, and this will remain so until an effective and safe vaccine is widely available (probably not before the end of 2021), and widespread immunity is necessary before ending the lockdown is possible (see this report on Slash-Gear about an MIT modeling study which shows that easing lockdowns too soon will result in "Disaster"). Several countries (e.g. Denmark, Austria and Germany) are beginning to gradually ease their lockdowns. They are doing this because their medical infrastructure is coping. They want to increase their rates of infection (within the limits of their medical infrastructure), to reduce the lengths of their lockdowns. If this increases their infection rates, and the resulting need for hospitalisations, by too much, they will make the lockdowns stricter; if not, they will continue gradual easing. That, in a nutshell, is the exit strategy: maximise infection rates within manageable limits to spread immunity as fast as possible, so that lockdowns can be ended as soon as possible. This is similar to parents who deliberately expose their kids to childhood diseases like measles and chicken-pox (e.g. by sending them to "measles parties"). Covid-19 is not about to be defeated (there is no sign of a treatment or vaccine in the near future). Your government is going to manage your exposure to the disease, to ensure that you can get back to work as soon as possible. If some people die along the way, so be it. All this might sound brutal and morally bankrupt, but no-one has a better strategy. No nation can afford to stay in lockdown until a vaccine is available. |
Posted on 7th April 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook. It is quite a long read, but worth a look. The earlier parts put the economic stimulus package that the US has put into effect in perspective: what seems like a huge amount of money amounts to a week's lost income, to help families and businesses ride out a lockdown that has already gone on for two weeks, has been extended for another two weeks, and realistically will last several weeks beyond that. He argues, probably correctly that this lack of support will destroy the US economy, with impacts lasting at least a decade or two. I do not, however, agree with his later arguments that borrowing money for a larger stimulus package has no real cost, because the money would be borrowed from the borrower, and therefore wouldn't need to be paid back. This is not how things work in national finances. There are two basic ways for governments to "borrow" money:
This doesn't mean that neither of these measures should be taken, but the idea that they are free and without negative consequences is naive. The Covid-19 pandemic will have huge and long lasting impacts on us all, and we should be prepared for life to be hard for a very long time. There are no easy solutions, neither medical nor economic. |
Posted on 30th March 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Everyone is complaining about how tough it is, being in self-isolation (except for people in Sweden, where it seems to be business as usual, as reported here by the BBC): complaints of boredom, having to spend time with their family, difficulties in getting exercise, problems with grocery shopping (because of panic buying) and so on. But it seems that not everyone is suffering as much as most of us. One example is the King of Thailand. The Daily Mail reports (here) that he has gone into self-isolation in Bavaria (Germany) by booking out the entirety of the Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl, along with his wife and 20 concubines. Such a hard life, although I am sure that the hotel owners and staff are happy with the situation. |
Posted on 30th March 2020 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Covid-19). |
Although there is quite a lot of information available about the Covid-19 coronavirus, there is also a lot of disinformation (not least from President Trump), and quite a few scams. Also the consequences of the information are not being explained by governments and health experts. So I am going to try and list some key facts, and the results on us of those facts. There is also a useful article here on The Atlantic, on what the future holds regarding Covid-19. TreatmentsAs I write this, there are no proven treatments for Covid-19. There are some rumours, but nothing yet that has been shown to work. Many scientists are busily searching for existing drugs that are effective against it, and trying to invent new drugs to treat it. We should expect that this will take some time, partly because it is a large and complex task, and partly because the approval process for new drugs takes time, although it is reasonable to assume that this process will be fast-tracked. Therefore don’t expect an approved treatment before the end of 2020, or mid 2021 at the very earliest. Also, if and when one or more treatments are found and approved, expect the drugs to be in short supply at first. This is true even for any existing drugs found to be effective against Covid-19, but even more so for any totally new drugs. In the meantime, treatments are all symptomatic: treating the symptoms so that they don’t kill the patients, thus giving their bodies time to defeat the virus. This is no different to the situation with many endemic viruses such as ‘flus and colds. An immunisationMany scientists and drug companies are working flat out on an immunisation, and at least one has already started testing on humans. Although this sounds hopeful, the development of new vaccines is always full of false hopes and failures: shots that don’t work and immunisations that have side-effects so severe as to make them useless. We should expect that the first approved immunisations will give only partial and/or short-term protection against the virus. We should also expect that any approval may have exclusions: parts of the population for whom the vaccine is not deemed safe (most likely the people who need it most). As with treatments, immunisations will take time, for the same reasons, so don’t expect them to be available before mid to end of 2021. What is all this talk about flattening the curve?There has been lots of talk about flattening the curve, and it is the justification for the lockdowns and travel bans that have been put in place. Basically, self-isolation is a way of slowing down the spread, so that hospitals are not overwhelmed by the numbers of patients, so that people who need to be hospitalised can be, thus increasing their survival rate. In other words, lockdowns and travel bans will reduce the proportion of infected people who die, by a small amount. There is no justification for believing that flattening the curve will reduce the total number of people who get infected. It just means that it may take longer for you to get infected: in some isolated communities maybe 3 to 5 years instead of 3 to 6 months. Through their strategy of flattening the curve, your government is not trying to prevent you from catching the virus; they are only deferring when you will catch it. That means that not only are your chances of survival improved, but also there is a chance that treatment or a vaccine may be available when you do catch it. Will you catch it?Current projections are that at least 50% of the world population will become infected with Covid-19 eventually. It could be more. So yes, expect at some point to catch it. You might have no symptoms at all, or you might have only mild symptoms. At risk people (people with existing conditions like heart disease, cancer and diabetes, and older people) are likely to have more severe cases, and may need to be hospitalised. How long will the lockdown last?One of the results of successfully flattening the curve is that the danger period will be lengthened. You should therefore expect lockdowns to last 3 months or more (the lockdown in Wuhan has already lasted 3 months and is not completely over (being eased, but not over), and that lockdown was severe and very strictly enforced by Chinese authorities). Will it come around again, and will I catch it again?Most coronaviruses are prone to mutation. This coronavirus is already mutating. Scientists are currently tracking 8 variants around the world (see here). What that means is that any immunity that you gain, by catching it, or by vaccination, may not be effective against a new strain resulting from mutation. Immunity from having been infected is likely to be more effective against such new strains than an immunisation. Also, it is not yet clear how long immunity from infection lasts (see paragraph 8 in this BBC article). Colds and ‘flus come around regularly, also due to mutations, and these viral diseases are now endemic. Expect Covid-19 to also become an endemic disease, but so far there is no factual scientific basis for believing that Covid-19 will be seasonal like colds and ‘flu (see paragraph 6 in this BBC article). So yes, it would be reasonable to assume that Covid-19 will come around again, and that some of you will catch it again. If you have some partial immunity from a previous infection or vaccination, a second infection should be less severe (but there are no guarantees). Will it ever be completely stamped out?It seems unlikely that we will ever completely eradicate Covid-19. We have only been partially successful in limiting ‘flu, and even less successful in limiting the common cold (also caused by a coronavirus). In the case of influenza, new vaccines have to be developed every year for the new strains. There are some notable success stories with immunisation (such as smallpox – now completely eradicated), but other diseases such as polio (caused by a virus) have not been completely eradicated, and TB (caused by a bacterium) is making a comeback, with drug resistant strains. What about the impact on the economy?The economy has taken a huge hit all around the world (see here). Currently stock markets are about 30% down. Oil prices are down to around $20 for a barrel, due to reduced demand, due to the lockdowns and travel bans. It currently looks like China will be the first economy to recover. Economies will not recover until everyone can return to work and spending patterns return to normal, so not until after the lockdowns are over. Things may not get as bad as during the great depression, but they might. What about my job?Many people have been fired, put on reduced hours, or temporarily laid off. Governments are offering bail-outs to some industries and financial support to some conventional full time employees, but understand that they cannot afford to do this long-term. Most of the government support is going to large high-profile companies. Worker in the gig-economy, and freelancers, are getting no help. This means that many people and small firms can expect hard times and possible bankruptcy. Some people are able to work from home. If you are one of these, as am I, you are lucky. Other people are in professions that are critical to keeping things working and keeping people alive (police, fire-fighters, medical workers and the like) continue to work and get paid. The longer the lockdowns continue, the more people’s lives and livelihoods will be destroyed. What about travel?Most flights have been cancelled. Many borders are closed. The Czech Republic has barred its citizens from leaving the country. So at the moment, international travel is all but impossible, except for people returning to their country of citizenship. My father in New Zealand is expected to die this year, and I am expecting to be unable to attend his funeral. Eventually, flights will resume, and borders will reopen. By then, many airlines, bus companies and travel agents may be bankrupt, so travel choices will be reduced. You should probably not be planning a vacation trip this year, not even in-country. If you are sensible, next year you should probably vacation in-country. People returning from ski trips have been a major cause of inter-country spread of Covid-19, and should probably be avoided for a while. I love to ski, but I think I will defer it until the winter of 2021/2022. What about social and business gatherings?For the time being, pretty much all events are cancelled: concerts, music festivals, conferences, exhibitions, beer festivals and sporting events. This will probably remain the case for the next 3 to 4 months. After that, there should be a gradual easing off of the lockdowns, and some (but not all) social and business events will probably start again. Other higher risk events such as music festivals and beer festivals may remain cancelled for the remainder of 2020. Apparently this year's Oktoberfest in Munich has been cancelled, although I have no confirmation of that yet. Every year, many people get sick from attending the Oktoberfest, after catching a virus (called the Wiesenkrankheit) from glasses that are not washed well enough before reuse, so it is pretty clear that this year the coronavirus would be spread by the same means if the Oktoberfest goes ahead. |
Posted on 28th March 2020 |
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The current coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak is likely the first pandemic to have a direct effect on many people around the world today, so it would hardly be a surprise if many people thought that such pandemics were a new phenomenon. The are not (for some history of pandemics, see this report from the BBC). As I wrote in an Opinion Blog post on 16th May 2017, human history is made up of a series of growth periods, interrupted by periods of zero or negative growth caused by disease. Population usually only starts to grow again when advances in medicine (e.g. the discovery of penicillin or the invention of vaccines) or public hygiene (e.g. the introduction of flushing toilets, drinkable water piped to houses, the invention of soap or the banning of public spitting) are made. Not all of these pauses in growth are caused by global pandemics (some have a smaller geographical footprint), but many are. The Covid-19 pandemic is therefore part of a pattern, repeated very often in our past. History shows us clearly that pandemics, and other more localised (e.g. limited to a city) outbreaks occur when population density reaches a critical level. As each outbreak is solved, population grows to a new critical density level. Some pandemics, such as the Black Plague, were solved not by innovations by humanity, but by the population reductions that the pandemic caused. History also shows us that the human race has not learned the lessons it has tried to teach us. Continued population growth will inevitably cause more pandemics. Solving the Covid-19 pandemic will simply allow us to continue growing our population until the next one hits us. One day we will not defeat a pandemic; it will defeat us, either wiping out our species, or destroying our civilisation and pushing humanity back to the stone age. It is never going to be possible to predict the nature of the next pandemic, so it will never be possible to pro-actively protect ourselves from the next threat (e.g. by developing a vaccine before the outbreak starts - just look at how unsuccessful we have been with seasonal 'flu shots, and our dismal failure to cure the common cold). Of course, controlling population growth is an ethical and political minefield. Some people seem to believe that the "right to reproduce" is an inalienable human right, even though reproducing (especially excessive breading) takes away the rights to life, health and happiness of the other inhabitants of our planet. We urgently need to find a solution to this dilemma. |
Posted on 28th March 2020 |
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This article in The Guardian, written for Australia, makes the case that we cannot separate climate change from the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been a sea-change in the Australian public's attitude to environmental issues, since the bush fires this winter (their summer). They are no longer a nation of climate change deniers; about time. The point made in the Guardian article has merit. The root cause of both crises (the pandemic and the various environmental issues) are the same: overpopulation. Solutions which try to address problems in isolation are therefore likely to fail, or to be only temporary solutions. It is therefore such a shame to see that the USA apparently didn't get the memo. In the news today (here on PBS News, and on many other new sources) is the announcement that the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) has stopped enforcing environmental laws because of the coronavirus crisis. This is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing. If they defer environmental protection enforcement until after the pandemic:
This is simply more of the same kind of lame and unsound excuses that are rolled out every time that environmental protection is discussed: we can't do anything that costs too much, we can't do it until we have dealt with the current crisis, blah blah blah. Enough with the excuses: the pandemic is a symptom of a wider environmental malaise and even if we get it under control, there will be another, and then another, until we address the root causes. |
Posted on 28th March 2020 |
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The text below was extracted from an email from a friend, and contains information from reliable and expert sources. "There has been much posted on various media outlets concerning Covid-19. Most of it is true, some hearsay, and some totally misleading. One of [my wife's] clients she edits for is The International Journal Of Infectious Diseases. This journal reports on ALL outbreaks globally and their information is fed to them by people local to the specific outbreak/s. e.g. there are people reporting about the Ebola outbreak in DRC and the ongoing (seasonal) outbreaks of bubonic plague in Madagascar etc. It is considered the de facto source of information re Coronavirus and in particular the Covid-19 variant. And that is where there are issues arising. The virus can, will, and does, have the capacity to mutate. This will not be over any time soon." "Johns Hopkins University provides solid facts with down to earth basic presentation here, and they also presented to the US Government here."
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Posted on 14th March 2020 |
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This is a copy of a post made in another thread (Medicine and Health). I am getting thoroughly tired of hearing President Trump and his lies about how Covid-19 (the coronavirus) is "under control" in the US. The facts do not support his position. In this article on the BBC, Dr. Anthony Fauci, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is reported as saying that "The testing system for coronavirus in the US is currently failing". The numbers support his statement. For example, this report from the Daily Mail, from the 10th of March, explains that 8,554 Americans have been tested for coronavirus (but the CDC director says there isn't [sic] enough staff to keep up). Of those 8,554 (and I am sure that in the 4 days since then, the number tested has increased, but I have to pick some baseline), there are 795 confirmed cases of Covid-19, that is around 10% of those tested are infected! To put those numbers in perspective, the US population is around 330 million. If we simply extrapolate, that would mean around 30 million infected Americans! Clearly that number is an overestimate, because testing has so far been focused on contacts of infected people, and in areas where there are higher numbers of infected people, like Washington State. Nevertheless, the figures do not support the position that overall infection rates are low, because the government simply don't know, and they won't know until test coverage is significantly higher. The pathetic testing performance of the USA is in stark contrast to all other developed nations, as described by Business Insider. Their report has a table comparing test coverage (tests per capita) for a number of nations: the USA trails the rankings by a huge margin (by a factor of more than 700 compared to South Korea)! Added to that is the cost for US citizens and residents. Donald Trump announced that health insurers would cover the cost of testing, which is fine if you have insurance, but insurers will not necessarily cover the costs of treatment. How is it that a rich nation like the USA has such poor provision of health care, especially during a world-wide health crisis? Why do the voters tolerate such a cavalier attitude to their health? |
Posted on 14th March 2020 |
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I am getting thoroughly tired of hearing President Trump and his lies about how Covid-19 (the coronavirus) is "under control" in the US. The facts do not support his position. In this article on the BBC, Dr. Anthony Fauci, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is reported as saying that "The testing system for coronavirus in the US is currently failing". The numbers support his statement. For example, this report from the Daily Mail, from the 10th of March, explains that 8,554 Americans have been tested for coronavirus (but the CDC director says there isn't [sic] enough staff to keep up). Of those 8,554 (and I am sure that in the 4 days since then, the number tested has increased, but I have to pick some baseline), there are 795 confirmed cases of Covid-19, that is around 10% of those tested are infected! To put those numbers in perspective, the US population is around 330 million. If we simply extrapolate, that would mean around 30 million infected Americans! Clearly that number is an overestimate, because testing has so far been focused on contacts of infected people, and in areas where there are higher numbers of infected people, like Washington State. Nevertheless, the figures do not support the position that overall infection rates are low, because the government simply don't know, and they won't know until test coverage is significantly higher. The pathetic testing performance of the USA is in stark contrast to all other developed nations, as described by Business Insider. Their report has a table comparing test coverage (tests per capita) for a number of nations: the USA trails the rankings by a huge margin (by a factor of more than 700 compared to South Korea)! Added to that is the cost for US citizens and residents. Donald Trump announced that health insurers would cover the cost of testing, which is fine if you have insurance, but insurers will not necessarily cover the costs of treatment. How is it that a rich nation like the USA has such poor provision of health care, especially during a world-wide health crisis? Why do the voters tolerate such a cavalier attitude to their health? |
Posted on 1st March 2020 |
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In the last week there was news that Larry Tesla had died at the age of 74. This, of course means that he is now hailed as a hero, and anything questionable in his past will now be forgotten. Many people will have no idea who he was. He worked at Xerox-PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), and is the man primarily responsible for inventing the keyboard shortcuts <Ctrl>-c (copy), <Ctrl>-x (cut) and <Ctrl>-v (paste). These shortcuts are used millions of times per day (I am using them as I write this). Xerox-PARC (now simply called PARC) was responsible for inventing a huge amount of intellectual property: laser printing, Ethernet, the modern personal computer, graphical user interface (GUI) and desktop paradigm (the WIMP {Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pointer} interface), object-oriented programming, ubiquitous computing, electronic paper, amorphous silicon (a-Si) applications, the mouse and advancing very-large-scale integration (VLSI) for semiconductors. Larry Tesla left PARC and joined Apple. Amazingly, Apple went on to utilise a large number of PARC inventions including those keyboard shortcuts, and the WIMP interface. I don't know for sure whether Larry Tesla was involved in the adoption of PARC technology by Apple, since there were other people who left PARC to join Apple, Microsoft, IBM, etc. I don't have an issue with that; apparently neither did PARC. What I have always had an issue with was the fact that both Apple and Microsoft later claimed some of that PARC technology as their own, went to court over other companies who used it, and charged licence fees for its use, all for things they didn't create. Of course, now that Larry Tesla is dead, we are not supposed to criticise him (I have already got into trouble for suggesting that his legacy is not all good). It is just more of that political correctness nonsense that I so despise. |
Posted on 21st January 2020 |
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Some people think that I am a little crazy in my attitude to doctors, so this post may shed a little light on that attitude. Whilst visiting my family in New Zealand this Christmas and New Year, I hurt my back. I have suffered from occasional back pain since I injured my back at 18 years old. This latest attack was triggered, like most, from sleeping on soft and lumpy mattresses while staying with relatives. This attack was probably the worst that I have ever suffered, resulting in not only very severe pain, but also partial numbness and loss of control of my left leg. I went to a clinic in the Coromandel Peninsula for some treatment, and was prescribed Celebrex (a strong pain killer and anti-inflammatory), plus a muscle relaxant. At a follow-up appointment the next day I was also prescribed Tramadol, a powerful pain-killer. After we returned to my sister's home near Tauranga, I went to the local A&E (Accident and Emergency) clinic. The doctor told me that the muscle relaxant prescribed by the clinic in the Coramandel was not optimal for my case, and prescribed me another. I asked the doctor about the possibility of a cortisone injection, and was told that this was not possible because I did not live in New Zealand, and because an MRI or at least an ultrasound would be needed for them to give the injection in the right place. My pain got worse, not better, and 2 days before our flights home, I went to an A&E clinic in Auckland. The doctor (who introduced herself as Pip) whom I saw told me that the other clinics had prescribed me the wrong medications, prescribed be some new pain-killers, and told me to stop taking all other medications (except paracetamol). She even confiscated and destroyed my refill prescription for Celebrex. I again asked about cortisone, and was told the same bullshit; she told me that the A&E couldn't do a cortisone injection, and that, to get one, I would have to be admitted to hospital, and would not be treated until Monday (our flight home was on the Friday before). Dr. Pip also refused to answer any of my questions about side-effects of the painkillers she prescribed, or about conflicts with other medications. I pointed out that she had taken me off of all anti-inflammatory drugs (best practice with collapsed disc problems is to treat both the pain and the inflammation, in order to break the vicious circle of pain causing inflammation, causing further pain), but again received no explanation. After returning home to Germany, I went to an emergency clinic (at the Elisenhof), and was immediately treated by Dr. Eugen Dirr (whom I highly recommend) with a cortisone injection and a pain-killer injection in my back (all with no need for an MRI or ultrasound). You might wonder how he knew where to inject me; the answer is in these charts, which easily identify which vertebral junction to inject, based on the site of the pain and/or numbness. Failing that it is also possible to give cortisone intravenously (I had that once, while skiing, and it worked well). Dr. Dirr knew immediately, from my description of the location of my symptoms, where to inject me. I am now, finally, starting to improve, although I still have numbness and reduced control of my left leg. I have several issues with the above saga:
I am singling out Dr. Pip (surname Gaensicke, I believe) as the worst of the dreadful doctors, for lying to me (or worse, being so badly trained that she was unaware of how diagnose and treat me properly) and for failing to answer basic questions about the medication that she prescribed. She is one of those people who give other doctors a bad name. My flights back to Germany were pure torture, which this doctor could have helped to reduce, if not eliminate, e.g. by organising a cortisone IV. |
Posted on 27th November 2019 |
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This interview by The Independent, with Tony Blair is well worth watching. His argument is that, because Britain is no longer a superpower, we need to be part of a larger group in order to survive: to have negotiating power (or even a seat at the table), to have security, to have influence to act against climate change, and so on. I can't fault his logic. |
Posted on 22nd November 2019 |
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This recent story on The Guardian shows that the USA has not changed its approach. The government of Thailand is in the process of banning three pesticides with known or suspected harmful side-effects. In doing so, they join dozens of countries who have already banned "chlorpyrifos, an insecticide made popular by Dow Chemical that is known to damage babies’ brains; Syngenta’s paraquat, a herbicide scientists say causes the nervous system disease known as Parkinson’s that has been banned in Europe since 2007; and Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide, which is linked to cancer and other health problems". The ban of these pesticides will block not only the pesticides themselves, but also food imports (e.g. from the USA) that are polluted with residue of these chemicals. "In the United States, pesticide residues are so common in domestic food supplies that a Food and Drug Administration report issued in September found more than 84% of domestic fruits, 53% of vegetables, and 42% of grains sold to consumers carried pesticide residues. Of course, the USA, as always, is trying to pressure Thailand to not ban the pesticides. America is clearly not content with poisoning only its own population, but wants to be free to poison those of other nations. The USA has an abominable track record on food safety, and on environmental protection in general, all in the name of profits, and is trying to persuade everyone else to adopt the same lax and irresponsible standards. The US government tried very hard to get the EU to relax their food quality and labeling standards, without success. They then got very excited about the opportunities that would be created by Brexit, and Donald Trump has made it very clear that only a Brexit deal that does not include the inclusion of the UK in the EU trading block, and the food standards that come with that, would allow a trade deal between the UK and the US, because they need markets for their food exports laced with pesticide residues, and those based on GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) without labels to identify their GMO nature (as described here). Luckily, Thailand is not about to be bullied by Uncle Sam; Britain, however, seems likely to give the Yanks what they want. It is a sad state of affairs when a country like Thailand has more backbone and protection of their citizens than the UK. As I have said before, very many protections (product and food safety, employment protection, and human rights) that Britain currently has, come as a side effect of EU membership, rather than from British political will, and all of these protections and rights are at risk in the event of Brexit. |
Posted on 20th November 2019 |
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I was shocked and outraged by this recent news story on the BBC. Two students in Olching, near Munich, were caught by police, taking waste food from bins outside of a supermarket. The police made them put the food back, and they were subsequently fined. At root is the question of what constitutes property. The court insisted that, even though the waste food was destined for disposal, it is still the property of the Edeka supermarket (the same chain as the one we shop at in Haidhausen), and that taking it therefore constitutes theft. The thing is, Edeka pays for the food to be taken away, so it doesn't just have zero value, it has negative value (i.e. it is a liability). In my opinion, anything that has a value of zero or less cannot be considered property, unless it has some sentimental value, and the students were doing the supermarket a favour by taking it. There is also a discussion in the news piece of the enormous problem of food waste: about 30% of all food for human consumption is thrown away, and no-one seems to know what to do with it. For an answer, maybe people should look to Britain during the second world war. Imports were few and far between, food was rationed, and people were encouraged to grow vegetable, to keep livestock (chickens and pigs) fed on waste food, and to feed pets on waste food. My grandfather did all of those things during the war, and continued to keep chickens until the day he died. I understand that many people nowadays live in apartments rather than houses, and thus have no gardens, but our apartment building has room for a chicken coop, and there could aalso be municipal gardens/farms dotted around cities, where people could take their waste food. I, for one, would be more than happy to take a walk to such a site, every couple of days, to recycle food waste. |
Posted on 6th September 2019 |
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As reported here, by the BBC, the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) has decided not to accept re-certification by the US FAA of the Boeing 737 Max. Instead, Easa will run their own tests on the aircraft before approving its return to commercial flights. In addition they will insist:
That is good news. Clearly, with all the revelations about the 737 Max, Boeing cannot be trusted to ensure safety, and neither can the FAA. |
Posted on 6th September 2019 |
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I was a little bemused, reading this article on The New York Times. The reason is that the article is strongly sympathetic to the parents of unvaccinated children. In New York State, it will now be required to have your child vaccinated; if you do not comply, you won't be allowed to send your kid to school. I'm sorry; to me this is a no-brainer. If you have not immunised your offspring, then you are putting the health and lives of my family and friends at risk. I and mine are not prepared to pay that kind of price for you to have the freedom to not vaccinate. Maybe we should be even tougher. How about making all unvaccinated people live in special ghettos, and to ring a bell and shout "unclean" when they are near normal vaccinated people. [Just in case any readers are unsure, this is not serious - it is sarcasm.] |
Posted on 30th August 2019 |
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With all the outrage over Queen Elizabeth II approving UK PM BJ's sneaky scheme to suspend parliament (see here), there is now a movement, with growing support, for the abolition of the British Monarchy, as described in this story on NewsHub. In the past, I have been slightly more in favour of the monarchy than against. The reason for that has always been because I am in favour of the UK having some kind of constitution. Now, however, the Queen has shown clearly that she is not fulfilling her constitutional duty. A request by leaders of the main opposition parties to meet the Queen has also been refused, as reported here by The Express. The reason, it seems, is that the Queen doesn't want to get embroiled in the political row that she started. It really seems that the time has come for Mrs. Windsor to be fired. There is, however, one major obstacle: there is nothing to replace the Queen's role. The country needs a written constitution, and probably an elected president, to fill the void; not only the void that would be left by firing her, but the void that already exists because she is not doing her job. Writing and approving a constitution takes time, as does the campaigning and election of a president. There is, of course, one other reason why we should abolish the monarchy: if we don't, then pretty soon Queen Lizzie will be replaced by King Charlie. I don't think anyone is looking forward to that prospect (except for Charlie himself). For what it's worth, I think that John Bercow, the current speaker of the House of Commons, would make an excellent president of the UK. |
Posted on 29th August 2019 |
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This article on HuffPost.com describes the latest in a seemingly endless parade of abuses of power by President Donald Trump. The report states "President Donald Trump reportedly told officials in his administration that he would pardon them if they had to break any laws to get hundreds of miles of his border wall built before the next presidential election, according to a report Tuesday night in The Washington Post. 'Don’t worry, I'll pardon you,' the president has allegedly told aides worried about his instructions to seize private land through eminent domain, flout environmental rules or push through billion-dollar contracts." Even if the issue was not party political in nature (he is trying to boost his chances of winning the next presidential election by being able to show progress on building the border wall), this is a gross abuse of power. Why are the American people not up in arms about this? The retard president needs to be stopped. |
Posted on 29th August 2019 |
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There are many stories in the news about British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's latest ploy to push Brexit through: the suspension of parliament. In This report on the Guardian , a reader quotes Oliver Cromwell's criticism of MPs, suggesting that the same applies to today's MPs: "Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defil'd this sacred place and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral purposes and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves become the greatest grievance." It reads like the very definition of politicians. This article, also on the Guardian, takes a firm position that the suspension of parliament is unconstitutional. The problem, of course, is that the UK doesn't have a written constitution; it is instead embodied in the roles of various people (including the Queen and the speaker of the House of Commons) and protocols (established practice) for how various things are done. Boris Johnson asked the Queen to approve the suspension of parliament; she had the opportunity and the grounds to refuse, but she didn't. Basically, the Queen failed to fulfill her constitutional duty. Thanks for nothing, Lizzie! Where is the will of the people in all this? MPs are failing to take into account, and to represent in parliament, the will of the people, by which I mean their will now, not their will when the Brexit referendum was held (yes, people's will has changed!). BJ's government is also going against the will of parliament, and the suspension is his method of doing so. I can therefore announce the death of democracy in Britain (it doesn't matter if you agree with my announcement - after all, without democracy, what you think doesn't matter)! |
Posted on 6th August 2019 |
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President Trump has given a speech in response to the two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, as reported here by the BBC. He calls on the nation to "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy". I agree: everyone should condemn Donald Trump for his racism, bigotry and white supremacy. He also called for the stamping out of violence. One of the means that he proposes to achieve this is the use of the death penalty. Stamping out violence with violence; am I the only person who sees the hypocrisy in this? Anyway, the USA already has the death penalty, for federal crimes and also in some states, and it hasn't stamped out violence. In quite a few cases of mass shootings, the perpetrators kill themselves, or clearly expect to be killed by police, so how is the threat of the death penalty going to deter them? Whatever happened to "turning the other cheek"? |
Posted on 6th September 2019 |
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Bernie Sanders, one of the contenders for the Democratic party nomination for presidential candidate, is getting ripped to shreds in the press, for his answer to an audience member's question during a CNN climate town hall event, as reported here, by the BBC. The questioner said "Empowering women and educating everyone on the need to curb population growth seems a reasonable campaign to enact ... Would you be courageous enough to discuss this issue and make it a key feature of a plan to address climate catastrophe?" Bernie Sanders replied: "Well, Martha, the answer is yes. The answer has everything to do with the fact that women in the United States of America, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies, and make reproductive decisions. The Mexico City Agreement which denies American aid to those organisations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control to me is totally absurd. So I think, especially in poor countries around the world where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies, and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have, is something I very, very strongly support. Now he is being criticised for proposing the use of US taxpayer dollars to "kill brown babies". He did not even propose abortion as part of the solution; he said "birth control". The problem is that Bernie is right. As I have pointed out before on this blog, the root cause of climate change and most other environmental problems that we are facing is that the planet's population is too big. Although birth rates are gradually falling around the world, population is still rising overall. Some nations have falling or static populations, but many countries have significant population growth (e.g. India and China). If we managed to fix global warming, the problem would come back again if population growth continued. So clearly we cannot ignore the population issue; if we do, we are all doomed. US politicians going all "global thermonuclear war" about this issue is not helping. It is time for a rational discussion of the options, the timescales, and the balance of wrongs and rights that are inevitably at play here. |
Posted on 17th July 2019 |
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The drama and scandal about the safety of the Boeing 737 Max continues. Here is a summary of some of the recent news stories on the subject. None of it makes me want to fly on a 737 Max. In this BBC report Boeing's Dennis Muilenburg admitted "We clearly fell short and the implementation of this [cockpit warning light for the] angle-of-attack disagree alert was a mistake, right, we did not implement it properly". Based on other reports, that seems to be avoiding the truth. They made it an optional extra, for which airlines had to pay, and many airlines did not buy this option because they did not realise that it was essential to safely fly the aircraft. This story on The Guardian, covers another safety issue, this time on the 787 Dreamliner. The switch used to extinguish engine fires has failed in a “small number” of instances. The switch also cuts the supply of fuel and hydraulic fluid to the engine, to prevent flames from spreading. Boeing has warned airlines that long-term heating can cause the fire extinguisher switch to stick in the locked position so it can’t be used to release the two fire extinguishers in each engine. Again, this is totally against the rules. Fire extinguishers are unarguable safety critical systems, and there is no system redundancy (such as a second switch or another way to operate the fire extinguishers) as required. Again, not only are Boeing to blame, but also the FAA. This article on the BBC, about how the company is giving $100M to the families of the 737 Max crash victims, seems, at first, to show Boeing in a better light, until you read this piece, also on the BBC, describing how Being has been bullying the families of crash victims into signing an agreement that forfeits their rights to sue for compensation, thus preventing them from getting more money later, as more embarrassing facts about Boeing come to light. Finally, for now, at least, is this BBC report about how Boeing seems to be trying to rebrand the 737 Max as the 737-8200. The worrying thing is that this may well work, with many air travelers. It looks to be that spending money and effort on safety is much less important than PR, for Boeing. My general conclusion from all this is that Boeing planes are not safe, and not just the 737 Max (or 737-8200); that Boeing do not care about people affected by their lack of safety; that the FAA has the same disregard for safety as the manufacturers they are meant to regulate; and that most airlines are no better than Boeing and the FAA - they continue to order 737 Max aircraft, and are playing along with Boeing's attempts to side-step the consequences of their poor design and testing. The 737 Max is a flawed design: am attempt to bolt new technology onto a very outdated aircraft, which has badly compromised the safety and flyability of the plane. It should probably never be allowed to fly again; I certainly don't want to be a passenger on one. |
Posted on 5th June 2019 |
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In my previous post about the Boeing 737 Max I wrote about the rules that apply to safety critical systems. As made clear in this article on CNN, Boeing neatly sidestepped these rules, by simply deciding that the Angle Of Attack (AOA) system was not safety critical. The AOA system being treated as not safety critical meant that there was no requirement for redundant systems or sensors. The AOA system relies on only one sensor, even though two are fitted to the 737 Max. Even two sensors would not have been enough, because, in the case where one fails, it is not possible to decide which is correct and which has failed; three sensors are needed to build a proper redundant system. Without a third sensor, the only option is to do what Boeing is now planning to do: disable the AOA system when readings from the two sensors disagree. I have to ask, why only now, after two crashes and many deaths? The FAA has received at least 216 reports of AOA sensors failing or having to be repaired, replaced or adjusted since 2004, so the failure mode behind the two crashes should have been noticed by Boeing and the FAA. That is, however, not really the key issue here. More important is how on earth did Boeing get away with declaring a system which can crash a plan when it fails as not safety critical? Not only are Boeing to blame for this, but so are the FAA, for failed oversight. Due to all the press attention on Boeing and the FAA in the wake of the crashes and subsequent investigations, more safety issues have come to light with then 737 Max, including faulty parts related to the leading edge slats. If these do not deploy when they should, the plane is at risk of stalling during take-off and landing. Some people, including some airlines which own 737 Max aircraft, are hoping and even planning on the basis that the planes will be cleared to fly again in June or July this year. That seems to be extremely premature, given that the investigations are not yet concluded, and probably won't be until the end of 2019 or later. I think that this debacle will mean that, in future, other aircraft regulators will be less eager to accept certification by the FAA as a basis for certification in other jurisdictions. I see that as a healthy development, although it will increase costs and delays in certifying aircraft, pushing up the costs of air travel. |
Posted on 17th April 2019 |
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I can't believe that Wayne Hennessey got away with this, as reported in this report on the BBC. Wayne Hennessey is goalkeeper for the Crystal Palace football (soccer) team. The FA (Football Association) regulatory commission has just decided that he will face no punishment, because did not know what a Nazi salute was, and displayed 'a "lamentable degree of ignorance" about Adolf Hitler, fascism and the Nazi regime'. This is purest bullshit. Just look at the photo, which says it all. In the picture, not only is he making the Nazi salute, but he is using his other hand to mimic Adolf Hitler's mustache, showing that he at least understands the connection between Hitler and the Nazis. His "ignorance" is clearly feigned. |
Posted on 14th April 2019 |
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There has been a steady drip-feed of news about the safety of Boeing's 737 Max aircraft since the Ethiopian Airlines crash. This report, on the BBC, looks at the possible effect of the two crashes, on Boeing. Some readers may not know so much about how aircraft designers ensure that their planes are safe. Having worked in the avionics industry, I thought that I would explain some of the basic techniques. Part of the news piece states that "The new anti-stall mechanism on the Max relied on data from one single sensor at the front of the aircraft". This would be against policy and design guidelines. For safety critical systems, including flight control systems, redundant systems, including redundant sensors, are required: normally 3 systems or components (like sensors), so that in the event of an error or failure in one, the output of two correct systems will be selected by a voting system. Reports from other news sources suggest that the Max has multiple angle of attack sensors; the issue seems to be deciding what to do when the sensors disagree, which just seems to be bad design. Given that design, coding and construction errors will always exist in complex systems, how do aircraft companies avoid crashes? The answer is by doing failure modes analysis. Failure modes analysis is a laborious process in which engineers imagine all the possible things that could go wrong (including multiple different failures) and then analyse how the systems will react and cope with those failures. This technique requires people (cannot be automated, even by AI) with good imagination, even paranoia, as well as an understanding of all the systems involved. It is expensive and complex, and sometimes things get overlooked, which often eventually leads to people dying or being injured. If a proper failure modes analysis had been done for the Max's anti-stall system, the impact of one or more failed sensors would have been identified, and the necessary redesign would have been performed, this eliminating the issue. While no failure modes analysis is simple, what would be needed for the anti-stall system is far simpler than many on an aircraft like the 737 Max. The obvious conclusion is that either the analysis was not done, or more likely it was done badly. There are, of course, many other ways that safety is assured in aircraft and other safety critical systems: Peer review of requirements specifications. The creating of executable requirements specifications. Prototyping of the systems, involving creating a program, independently of the final design that will be put into the aircraft, that fulfills some of the requirements of the actual system, albeit not as fast nor as completely as the final system. Peer review of designs. Peer review of code, electrical design and of mechanical design. Various different kinds of testing of system components, and whole systems.Many companies have also dabbled in formal methods: the use of mathematically based languages and methods to achieve "right first time" design. I have worked with such methods and languages; they are not yet good enough. There are two different perspectives used in the above: validation (did I build the right thing?) and verification (did I build it right?). The inherent flaw with most of the methods listed above is that they depend on people, so things may be missed or misinterpreted; sometimes things are, therefore, missed or misinterpreted. This is the reason for the interest in formal methods, to take people out of the equation, to some extent. For safety critical systems like aircraft, nearly all the quality assurance methods listed above are mandatory (mandated by certification authorities like the FAA), although not formal methods, executable specifications nor prototyping. The bottom line is that, despite the huge effort, and therefore cost, applied to making systems safe, there is always a chance that a dangerous error finds its way into a product. The cost of trying to assure safety in systems is normally the majority of the cost of creating those systems, and even this is not always enough. The other basic problem is that projects are always delayed, and over budget. When this happens, testing and other verification and validation activities get trimmed: less time, and fewer resources. The results of this are inevitable: failures and accidents. |
Posted on 12th April 2019 |
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This post is a copy of an item from my News Blog. I returned home on Friday night to find a package for me: a large envelope, in which we had sent thee Christmas cards for my family in New Zealand, for redistribution to my family by my sister. The envelope had been ripped, and later resealed, presumably by the NZ postal service. It seems that at least one other package was similarly ripped open, because our envelope had been refilled with the contents of another package: cards for someone called Tom. Our Christmas cards were not there, and were probably delivered to someone else. Our envelope was then delivered to the wrong address. The recipient then returned it to the sender, us. What a dreadful service the NZ Post provides. I have heard a number of other horror stories about NZ Post, from my family. Of course, other postal services around the world also screw up, often and badly:
This abominable service is bad enough, but despite it, the legal position in Germany is that proof of posting is considered proof of delivery. This applies to legal notices of all kinds, payments, bills, etc. Is it any wonder that postal services everywhere are losing business to courier services? |
Posted on 10th JFebruary 2019 |
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This piece on politicususa is a typical piece of American news: mainly about personalities and who has been wittiest, rather than anything truly newsworthy. I am only commenting on it because I really don't like hypocrisy. Pete Buttigieg commented on Mike Pence's disapproval of Buttigieg being gay, by saying, among other things, that "If you’ve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Mrs. Pence feels that this is an attack on her religious beliefs, and said "I think in our country we need to understand you shouldn’t be attacked for what your religious beliefs are and I think kids need to learn that at a young age that this is OK, what faith people have; we don’t attack them for their faith.” Sorry, but president Trump's policies to prevent immigration, and even visits, by Muslims, which were fully supported by his VP, Mike Pence, are a form of attack on, and prejudice against, people's religious beliefs. You can't practice discrimination against people based on their religion, and in the next breath complain that someone's statements are not OK because they amount to religious prejudice. Also, if we take Mrs. Pence's statements at face value, does that mean that, if I joined a religion whose doctrine included the killing an eating of children, she would not dare to criticise me, because those are religious beliefs? Religious belief is clearly not a defence against the law and against moral criticism, and just as eating children is morally wrong, so is being anti-gay, in most people's opinion. Whilst people like the Pences would probably prefer that the US legal code was more closely aligned with their religious beliefs, that is not how it is. Their views do not even have a majority amongst US Christians, and Christians are not a majority amongst US voters. That is the price of living in a (pseudo-)democracy. |
Posted on 9th JFebruary 2019 |
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This article on the BBC really highlights what is wrong with Australia, and unfortunately many other countries. The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison criticised animal rights activists as "shameful and un-Australian" after dozens were arrested in nationwide protests. His argument is that a large part of the county's agriculture, 40%, is based on meat production. Australia is the second largest meat consuming nation, per capita, in the world. So, yet again, moral and environmental issues take second place to economic priorities. How will we ever save the world, and therefore the human race, if we can't prioritise saving it over making a quick buck. I understand that this is not a simple issue. Much of the farmland in Australia is good for nothing except livestock; many people's livelihood, and a lot of exports, depend on livestock farming. That doesn't mean, however, that we shouldn't try to make that farming as humane as possible. I can't really take the moral high-ground on this issue. I eat meat, and am not likely to give that up. I am, however, trying to eat less meat, and also, where possible, choose humanely raised and slaughtered meat. Labelling these protesters as un-Australian is the same phoney logic that called Americans unpatriotic when they protested against war. |
Posted on 5th April 2019 |
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The latest in the continuing saga of lack of respect for international law by the USA is reported in this article on the BBC. The USA has revoked the visa of the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, who is investigating possible war crimes by American forces and their allies in Afghanistan. The decision is not a surprise, in that the US had warned the US might refuse or revoke visas to any ICC staff involved in such probes. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said: "We're prepared to take additional steps, including economic sanctions if the ICC does not change its course". Part of the problem here is an inherent issue with international law (see the other posts in this blog thread, by clicking the link above): it is not really law at all. The US is not signed up to the ICC, although the history of this is complicated. Nevertheless, there is a huge difference between not signing up to be a member of an important piece of International Law, and actively sabotaging it (and using blackmail, in the form of sanctions, to try to force the issue). It is not as if the US military's record overseas is spotless. There have been many reported cases of torture (e.g. Abu Ghraib), extra-judicial killings, "extraordinary rendition" and other war crimes and violations of human rights by US military or the CIA recorded over recent years. The well known cases all occurred outside of US jurisdiction (although it could be argued that the imposition of martial law places some, but not all, of these crimes within US jurisdiction), which places them out of reach of US courts. Who, then, can investigate and prosecute such cases? The ICC was established to solve this jurisdictional issue, among others. So now the USA is flexing its muscles to block the investigation by the ICC. We should not stand for this. The USA sees itself (when it wants) as the policeman of the world; that role requires respect from at least some other nations, which in turn requires good behaviour and accountability. Regarding the sanctions threat, in the same way as with the US-China trade war, which went into full tit-for-tat mode, sanctions against the ICC or its staff should be met with similar sanctions against US entities (people, government agencies, etc.). If the US, in its continued playing fast and loose with human and legal rights, continues to act as a rogue nation, then they should be treated like one. |
Posted on 2nd April 2019 |
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This report on the BBC is very disappointing. A prisoner, Russell Bucklew, on death row in Missouri has failed in his legal attempt to be executed by his preferred method. He claims that he has a medical condition, and that the state's standard execution technique, lethal injection, will cause him excessive pain and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. He wants to be executed by gas. The US Supreme Court has just ruled that prisoners have no right to a painless death. This is really shocking. "The eighth amendment [to the US constitution] forbids 'cruel and unusual' methods of capital punishment but does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death," wrote Justice Gorsuch, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017. Leaving aside for a moment the arguments about whether capital punishment is just and fair, the idea that the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment does not extend to executions is an utterly bizarre legal interpretation, and is simply downright wrong. If the court which sentenced Mr. Bucklew felt that he should suffer during his death, then they should have sentenced him to a painful death (which could then have been legally challenged, since it is illegal under the constitution); the court, however, did not, and it should be beyond the authority of the Missouri penitentiary system to subject him to such a painful death. It seems that the US legal system is broken. The US constitution is the ultimate law in the USA, and there is a vast difference between interpreting that law, and bending it to the political views of the supreme court judges. It also again makes to the case that the USA, due to its lack of protection of human rights, and its demonstrated failure to uphold the rule of law, should be branded a rogue nation. |
Posted on 12th February 2019 |
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I am getting thoroughly fed up with the parcel delivery companies: UPS DHL, FedEx, GLS, etc. This week I ordered some wine, and the tracking web-site shows that it is due to be delivered this morning; that should be fine, since Sheryl is at home sick today. In fact, however, it is not fine. Yet again someone rang the doorbell, and gave up and walked away before Sheryl could answer. This kind of thing happens often. Our doorbell/entry-phone system is not very smart (but smarter than the delivery personnel): if you ring a bell, the person who lives in that apartment can answer, and choose to let you into the building; if you get impatient and ring another bell, then only the last apartment whose bell you rang can answer. Many delivery drivers ring lots of bells, so that many people get disturbed, but only the last one rung can answer (and they might not be home). There have been many cases where one of us was home, and no-one rang the doorbell, but we received a slip in our postbox that we were not home when they tried to deliver. ![]() We have seen delivery vans parked opposite our apartment building while the driver fills in dozens of "you were not home" slips, without first attempting to ring any doorbells. I find this bizarre, since they need to ring anyway to deliver the failed-delivery slips. There was also a period when one of the courier firms left dozens (basically all) of their parcels with a bakery over half a kilometer from our building, leaving a note saying "we have left your parcel with a neighbour". A few years ago I bought a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) which weighed 70Kg (the weight is mostly batteries). It was delivered while I was away for work, but Sheryl was home. The delivery guy was alone, and didn't have one of those nifty stair-climbing trolleys (see photo), and refused to bring it up one flight of stairs, so Sheryl refused to accept delivery (our building has no lift) and they had to deliver it another day, with two guys. Sheryl regularly has similar problems with one particular guy who delivers to her work; he always refuses to deliver things into the building, and as a result usually leaves without getting a signature. Some firms are worse than others, but the main variation seems to be down to the individual delivery person. This is a service for which we, as end-customers, pay (directly or indirectly), but we are not treated like customers and do not receive the service for which we pay. I guess I need to complain more to the delivery companies. |
Posted on 27th March 2019 |
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This article on Vice.com is about a paper about the impacts of climate change: "Deep Adaptation: A Map for Navigating Climate Tragedy". The thesis of the paper is that climate change, already here and getting worse, will cause economic and societal collapse, potentially in 10 years from now. If you have read other material about the impact of climate change, either elsewhere in the news, or on this blog (here, here, here and here), then you know that shortages of water, food, energy and other resources are predicted, and that these shortages will in many cases lead to armed conflict and increased migration. Until now, however, I have not seen any predictions about the impact on society; this paper does just that. The news piece in the first link, above, tells how many readers were seriously upset and depressed by the scientific paper, and are heading to the hills, or places like New Zealand in the hope that their survival chances will thus improve. In order to decide whether such drastic action is necessary, let's look at what "Societal Collapse" means. The sections below describe the separate symptoms of societal collapse, and what it may mean to you. The thing to remember is that all these things are connected, and degradation in one area causes impacts in another: a positive feedback loop, or vicious circle. Nevertheless, nothing is certain. Some things may come to pass, and perhaps some will not; they may happen sooner than predicted, or later. Readers should treat all these predictions as risks, and act to try to reduce those risks to the extent that it is possible. One of the most destructive symptoms of the collapse of society is likely to be in law and order. You only need to look at the news about the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protests to see the effects of street protests and civil disobedience, and the inability of the police in France to limit the disruption. Imagine protests many times bigger and more frequent, with people on the streets because they cannot feed their families or find a job, or are being thrown out of their homes. If French police cannot deal with the current Gilets Jaunes protests, how much worse will it be in countries with smaller police forces (e.g. the USA, with a police force one tenth, per capita, of those typical in western Europe? Add to this the impact of reduced budgets for policing (as a result of the collapse of money). Crimes will go unpunished, meaning that there will be no reason for people and companies with whom you deal (your landlord, your bank, your insurance company, etc.) to obey the law and uphold your legal rights. Looting will be rife. There will be no-go areas for police in all countries, with some streets ruled by gangs; you may have to pay protection "money" just to go shopping. Your car will likely be stolen or torched. It will become very dangerous just to walk the streets. Because many vital resources will be in short supply, inflation will go out of control (like in Venezuela right now). Money will start to become useless, and you will need to barter to get basics. If you don't have anything that people want, then you won't be able to barter for what you need. Not only do individuals need money for daily life, but governments need it to fulfill their role in society. Once money becomes ineffective, governments will not be able to pay for the services they provide: health care, R&D (e.g. into combating or preventing climate change), policing, road maintenance, sewage, etc. The collapse of money, and its impact on governments' ability to function, is probably one of the biggest drivers of other negative impacts on society. Your wages, if you continue to have them, will be inadequate, and you will need to buy what you need immediately you get paid (because, by tomorrow, the price may have doubled due to rampant inflation). Your pension, and your investments, will similarly become useless. Your property, which in many cases is limited to the house in which you live, is likely to lose its value, which may mean that, although you may need to move home, you can't afford to. Farming productivity is already being effected by climate change. In some cases this is due to direct changes in the weather, and the predictability of the weather. The distribution of pests is also already changing. It is getting harder to be a farmer. Intensive farming is heavily dependent upon money, for pesticides and fertilizers, seed stock and machinery. If/when the money system collapses, it will become impossible to sustain intensive farming practices. Without intensive farming, it will be impossible to feed the world. Today, "buy local" is a choice; it will probably become the only option (no more asparagus in December, apples in April, kiwi fruit in Finland, mangoes in Europe and America). There has also been talk about the threat caused by climate change to coffee supplies. I don't know if this is really an issue, but it could become one. One effect that seems certain is that people's diets will change. Fruit and vegetables will again become truly seasonal, and meat consumption (the production of which is so dependent on water, energy and specialised feed-stock) will reduce. Access to drinking water is already an issue for many people around the world. Recently there was a lot in the news about a water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa. More recently there is bad news about future water supply in areas fed by the Colorado River (here, on Mashable) and in Britain (here on The Guardian). The USA, Britain and many other nations have long been extracting too much water from underground and surface sources, causing some rivers and lakes to dry up, and others to become polluted. Ground water in Israel is becoming too salty to use, as salt water seeps in from the sea to replace water pumped out for household and agricultural use. In other places water is becoming polluted by mining, industrial waste, and activities like fracking. Flint, in the USA, is a well known example of the industrial pollution of water supplies. Such issues will become more extreme and more widespread, since industry, water companies and governments are unlikely to change their policies. What this means for you is that you may only have tap water part of the day; maybe not at all. It may no longer be safe to drink tap water. Water rationing may be applied. Eventually you will also probably find yourself unable to pay for your water supply, if your money becomes worthless, and ultimately water supply companies will go bankrupt. Given that you might be trying to supplement your food supply by growing vegetables at home, the lack of water will be a huge problem. We could all end up walking miles, and/or queuing up at water tankers, to get enough water to survive. This is already normal for people in parts of Africa, but we are not used to it in Europe and North America. Health care is one aspect of society that will be badly affected by societal collapse. Government paid schemes will be first be trimmed and then cancelled, as government budgets come under pressure and the money system crumbles. Private schemes will become less and less useful, as the crumbling money system forces health insurers to create more exemptions, preconditions and other loopholes to limit how much they pay, and therefore how good your health care is. There will be more co-payments, and more treatments which are not covered at all. Good luck getting treatment for pre-existing conditions. Waiting lists will grow, and more treatments will not be available locally. Medical equipment will be older and in need of repair, and medicines will be in short supply. Doctors and nurses will be even more overworked, and that will result in poorer treatment and more mistakes. Getting a second opinion will become much harder. Remember to add to all this the coming crisis of antibiotic-resistant diseases. Eventually, centrally organised health care will all but disappear. Hospitals, clinics and dentists will close. Because of this, vaccinations will be the exception, rather than the norm, and illnesses which are minor today (like appendicitis) will become fatal; child-birth will become mush more risky. Americans of future generations will also start to have "English teeth"; us English will be laughing about that, as long as our toothaches are not too bad. Even today, the world does not seem to be able to prioritise environmental protection above money; wild-life above people; the future against the her and now. It doesn't take much imagination to see how much worse things will be as the effects of societal collapse begin to bite. A lot of funding for environmental programmes comes from charitable donations, from companies and individuals. Most of the rest is government funded. Some government funding for environmental initiatives is in the form of international aid. All of these sources will dry up, as other "more urgent" needs soak up the dwindling supply of funds. This is going to make some people's survival strategies problematic. If you are planning to live off the land in some way, you are going to want a sound ecosystem in which to follow your plan, whether that means hunting in the mountains, fishing on some island, or self-sufficient farming in New Zealand or Ireland. The lack of effective and enforced environmental protections means there will be a huge increase in polluted ground water, pests, invasive species, the availability of feed-stock, and climate change will have major effects on species viability, as animals (birds, insects, etc.) find they are unable to change where they live to deal with the altered climate, because the space they need to occupy will already be occupied by humans and their farms. Societal collapse will have negative impacts on public transport, and the ability to make business and leisure trips (so forget vacation trips, especially by air). Even our ability to commute for work will be severely degraded. This will mean having to rethink where you live, and/or where you work: in future people will need to live near their job; by near, I mean walking or cycling distance. Nowadays people rely very heavily on their mobile phones, and on the Internet. Expect that service coverage and quality (i.e. data bandwidths and reliability) will be steadily degraded, as the degradation of money gradually gets worse (telecoms companies are, after all, businesses, and rely on income to maintain and improve their infrastructure). This will make simple things much more difficult: you will have to agree beforehand not only when to meet someone, but also exactly where. Internet shopping will eventually die out: without delivery services, Internet services, and a functioning money system, it cannot work. Recent history has shown us that, when times are tough for whatever reason, racism, homophobia, sexism and all those other prejudices come to the fore. We should expect that, as societal collapse starts to bite, this will happen all over the world. Civilisation is nothing more than a thin coat of paint hiding the feral creatures that humans are at core. |
Posted on 6th JFebruary 2019 |
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I was really quite incensed when I read this article on the BBC. Japan, like most developed countries, is facing a demographic crisis, as the birth rate falls, life-span increases, and the average age of the population rises, meaning that the pensions of a growing number of retirees will have to be paid by a falling number of working people. Japan's deputy prime minister, Taro Aso got himself into trouble recently for saying "There are lots of weird people who say the elderly are at fault, but that's incorrect ... Rather, those who aren't giving birth to children are the problem." For this bizarre statement, he was roundly criticised by opposition MPs, who said his words could hurt couples who were unable to have children, and Taro Aso was forced to retract his statement. REALLY? Our planet has a whole host of environmental problems caused, ultimately, by overpopulation. Falling birth rates may, in the end, save our species and many other species, and I have to see it as a good thing. Japanese politics, on the other hand, seems to consider political correctness as much more important than saving the planet. It is good that Taro Aso retracted his original statement. It is just a shame that he did so for the wrong reasons. |
Posted on 30th January 2019 |
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This short piece on the BBC really highlights the differences between Germany, where I live, and the USA. The USA has an official language: English (although not always recognisable as English by other English-speaking nations). Germany also has an official language: German (although there are regional dialects, to the extent that people from one region have great difficulty understanding people from another, and Swiss-German speakers have subtitles added when on German TV). In Germany, the government has no qualms in insisting that people speak and understand German. There is even a test, when applying for residence or citizenship. By contrast, the USA seems to need to tiptoe around the issue, and it is not considered politically correct to make a fuss about residents and citizens not speaking English. Most of us have heard stories of people not being able to order food in places like McDonald's unless they do so in Spanish (in some parts of the USA). I really don't understand the Americans' reticence about insisting on English: it is the law and it is established practice. Giving in on this could easily lead to a situation like in South Africa, where it is common for a school teacher to have to work in up to 14 different languages in one class. Insisting on ability in English doesn't mean that other languages are banned. At this moment, there are four of us in my office: two Germans, a South African, and me (from England). All of speak English and German; the South African also speaks Afrikaans (so I can also use my very limited Dutch with her). We speak whichever language is easiest for all participants in a conversation; sometimes we use more than one language in a conversation. Political correctness is largely an American invention, so it is rather appropriate that they are now becoming victims of the monster they created. I must ask, however, that they keep it on their own side of the Atlantic. |
Posted on 30th January 2019 |
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This article on Business Insider, describes the health risks of eating your own boogers (in British English, bogies). This topic is especially relevant for people like me, who live in Germany, which is the nose-picking capital of the world. Unsurprisingly, picking your nose is unhealthy; eating your boogers is even more so. Some of the rarer described health problems are rather nasty. One of the things which the author seems to be unaware of is oral tolerance. This is a mechanism, which probably evolved to prevent us from having allergic reactions to our food, whereby the body identifies things in the mouth as non-threatening. Eating your boogers, which are filled with viruses and bacteria, therefore means that you are likely to have a reduced immune response to these same viruses and bacteria in other parts of your body. In other words, eating your boogers will likely mean that you will be sicker, and for longer, than if you didn't eat them. The article mentions that there are some people who claim that eating your boogers strengthens your immune response, and that there is no proof of this effect. The truth of the matter is, due to oral tolerance, exactly the opposite. |
Posted on 29th January 2019 |
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No-one should be surprised by this story on the BBC, which is an inevitable result of Brexit. A lobby group, made up of agriculture and pharmaceutical firms, want the food safety regulations in the UK to be made more like those in the USA. Once the UK leaves the EU, Brits will be able to set their own standards for food and drug safety, and this group is pressing for more relaxed standards, like those in the USA. This means hormone-fed beef, GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) food, antibiotics in food, lack of clear labeling of food (i.e. the labels will not tell you about hormone or GMO content), and a easier and faster process for approval of drugs. The US already tried to agree these changes with the EU in the past, without success. There was quite a row, almost leading to a trade war. Now that the UK is leaving the EU, they are having another go, and will probably succeed, since Britain will not be in such a strong negotiating position on their own, and needs to agree trading terms with many countries in a hurry, once Brexit is complete. It is obvious from the facts that Britain puts the health, welfare and rights of its population at a lower priority than the EU does. The only reason why Brits are as well protected as they are right now, is because of regulations created by the EU, so we should all expect that to change after Brexit. Almost certainly, UK regulations on food and drug safety will be relaxed, although maybe not quite as much as the Yanks would like, and the British population will all be be eating all sorts of potentially hazardous food, and being prescribed drugs that are not thoroughly tested, without even knowing. I am so glad that I live in Germany, where food and drug safety, and labeling rules are strict, due to EU regulations, and won't be eating any of the poisonous garbage that the USA wants to fob off on the UK. If you live in the UK, now might be a good time to write to your MP. |
Posted on 28th January 2019 |
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As the crisis in Venezuela worsens, everyone seems to be taking the opportunity to express their opinions, some to support Maduro, and some to condemn him; some of these opinions are accompanied by some forceful, and even threatening language. This report by the BBC quotes US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as describing Mr Maduro's government as "morally bankrupt" and "undemocratic to the core". In that case, I would have thought that the Trump administration would love him; it is therefore rather surprising that Venezuela has not been invited to become the 51st state of the USA, since they would fit right in. |
Posted on 28th January 2019 |
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As reported here, by the Guardian, Amanda Knox is in the news again; this time because she has just been awarded damages (€18,400) by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for failures by the Italian justice system. What concerns me about the article is the issue (still not resolved) of her conviction for malicious accusation. This law, either in its very concept or in its application in the Amanda Knox case, seems inherently flawed. Given that, in so many cases in so many different countries, investigators fail to properly look into alternative suspects, pointing the finger of blame at someone else is sometimes the only defence that the accused have. Indeed, in some cases the police actually ask the suspect "if you didn't do it, then who did?". In Italy, however, it seems to be against the law to suggest another suspect. This issue seems to me to undermine people's basic human rights. It also calls into question the basic legal principle of conviction only when it is "beyond reasonable doubt". Since most western nations already have legislation against slander and libel, I do not see any reason for there to be additional laws against malicious accusation. I will be adding Italy to my growing list of countries in which to avoid getting arrested. |
Posted on 9th January 2019 |
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A recent scientific study has shown that there is a causal link between brain damage and religious fundamentalism, as reported in this story on Salon.com. "The findings suggest that damage to particular areas of the prefrontal cortex indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by diminishing cognitive flexibility and openness — a psychology term that describes a personality trait which involves dimensions like curiosity, creativity, and open-mindedness." Now it is clear why you can never successfully argue people out of fundamentalist beliefs; something that many of us have tried. Let's be clear, the research is not saying that all religious beliefs are caused by brain damage; only fundamentalist beliefs. Of course, this doesn't mean that we should all stop trying to persuade fundamentalists that their beliefs are wrong, but at least now, when we fail, we know that it is because they are mad. |
Posted on 9th January 2019 |
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There is some good news about the right to repair goods that we buy. The BBC reports, here, that the EU are proposing to force manufacturers to make goods that last longer and are easier to mend. The European proposals refer to lighting, televisions and large home appliances. This article on The Verge reports that 18 states in the USA are considering similar legislation. I see this as a major step forward. In the last few years I have had to replace:
In addition, I have:
The lists above are probably not even complete. I also replaced the hard disk in my laptop with an SSD (solid-state disk), and doubled the amount of RAM - I was able to do it myself, but it was extremely difficult (I had to open the laptop many times to get it properly re-assembled and working), and required special tools. |
Posted on 8th January 2019 |
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As reported here, by the BBC, Theresa May has launched a new 10-year plan for the NHS (National Health Service). NHS bosses believe that 500,000 lives can be saved by focusing on prevention and early detection. How exactly is that news? Isn't prevention and early detection the primary purpose of any health system? It is a well established fact that the earlier an illness is detected and diagnosed, the better the chances of surviving. I am not much interested in having a doctor tell me that I am going to die, but it's OK because they know what it is; I expect to be told what I am sick with, how they will cure it, how long it will take and what side-effects there may be. It seems, however, that the NHS bosses and the British Prime Minister, were previously unaware of the benefits of preventative medicine: 'Prime Minister Theresa May hailed the launch of the plan as a "truly historic moment".' It now seems unarguable that we have the wrong people running Britain and the NHS. Then there is the matter of the number of lives: 500,000. Over what period, precisely? 500,000 per year; 500,000 over the 10 years of the new NHS plan, or what? Additional funding of £20bn will be given to the NHS. If that saves 500,000 lives, that is a cost of £40,000 per life, which seems a reasonable return on investment (if it is over 10 years, the cost is only £4,000 per life!). Of course, if they invested more, they could save more lives; it is all really a question of how much value a human life has to the government and the NHS. I am confident that £40,000 per life is close to the actual value that the NHS and UK government work with, since it matches calculations based on other published data. Of course, many people forget that the NHS is partly a health insurance scheme (one where the insurance provider also provides the services to repair and maintain the health of its customers), for which British citizens and residents pay. The service that the customers receive, however, is dependent upon how much the treatment costs, and only as long as there are enough beds and medical staff are not too busy on other patients. So,to summarise, preventative care has been de-emphasised, but that is now going to change. Under the new order, your life is worth no more than £40,000. Even if your life can be saved with £40,000, there is no guarantee that you will be saved, because the NHS might be too busy. Why did you vote for such a heartless system; oh, I know, you didn't; you were not given any choices at any election that even touched on this subject. Still think that the UK is a democracy? Think again! |
Posted on 8th January 2019 |
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This article on Mashable is so stupid that it is hard to believe someone even wrote it. I don't need to explain the maths behind the fact that an 18" pizza is bigger than two 12" pizzas, because the article explains it. What bothers me is that the author, Morgan Sung, seems blown away by the facts, and doesn't seem to believe the maths. This just reminds me of the very funny video about whether to have your pizza cut into 6 or 8 slices (here). The human race is doomed! |
Posted on 4th February 2019 |
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This weekend Sheryl had some trouble with her US bank: BMO Harris Bank. She was furious, and very disappointed. She had everything set up to operate smoothly. Her bank was able to automatically fetch her two US credit card bills, and to make the minimum payments. This had been working smoothly for a few years. Then suddenly, the bank were unable to fetch the bills, so she logged on to the BMO Harris Bank banking web-portal to make the payments manually. Upon logging in, she was presented with an information pop-up, with new Terms and Conditions, with an "I agree" button. The new Ts & Cs basically say that customers must now have an address in the USA; without this address, virtually all the services which she needs are not available, including paying her credit card bills, whether manually or automatically. She phoned customer services, and after several failed calls and ages on hold, the agent told her that she needed a US address. Sheryl therefore changed her address to her parents' address. The changes didn't take effect immediately, despite the agent's assurances that they would, so she still doesn't know whether she will be able to make the payments or not. There are many things wrong with what happened:
This is not the first time that Sheryl has had trouble with this bank. When she first moved in with me, it took almost a year to get her new address correctly stored on their system. She wrote letters and sent faxes (yes, it was a while ago, before Harris Bank had online banking). Amazingly, despite seriously incorrect addresses, her bank statements arrived at our flat, until the bank finally had the address right, at which point the German Post Office decided the letter was undeliverable (despite a correct address). Normally, after such bad service, Sheryl would have closed her BMO Harris Bank account, and opened an account with another bank, but in most cases you cannot open a bank account unless you are resident in the country where the bank operates. She needs a US bank, to pay her US bills, but she lives in Germany. It wouldn't be so difficult if the USA complied with anyone else's standards, for anything at all, but they don't: not in telecoms (only in the last few years have US customers had 3G and 4G phones - before that, Sheryl couldn't even send her family an SMS!), banking ("what is an IBAN number?"), airport rules (no international zones in US airports, so you have to enter the USA even if you are only in transit), road signs (would it really be so hard to use pictures on road signs, rather than words for everything - driving in the USA if you don't read English is a nightmare), and so on. I am sure that we will find a solution. When we do, BMO Harris Bank will be getting a long letter detailing why her account has been closed. |
Posted on 4th January 2019 |
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I assume that everyone saw at least some news about the French Yellow Jackets' protests. The whole thing was in reaction to President Macron's attempt to introduce higher fuel taxes, for which there is an environmental imperative. In the end President Macron had to back down, at least in part. We hardly had time to draw breath before the other side started a petition. According to this report on Bloomberg, "A petition calling for legal action against the French state for its supposed failure to act against global warming had reached 1.81 million signatures as of Thursday [27th December 2019], close to the 2-million goal set by the associations that launched the initiative on Dec. 17." Can you French people make your minds up? Environmental protection is important - VERY. It is almost never without cost and inconvenience (i.e. higher fuel prices). You don't get to choose lower prices and greater convenience, and thus the end of human civilisation and mass extinctions, because there are other people (like me) living on planet earth, and we are not going to let you choose destruction for us and our descendants just because you want to burn hot and fast. |
Posted on 4th January 2019 |
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I was totally caught out, when I first read this article on the BBC. The piece is about Isaac Asimov's predictions, made in 1983, about what the world would be like in 2019. Some of his future gazing was amazingly accurate. In the 10th paragraph, however, is the statement "In 30 years time machines will know what each student knows and what he or she needs to learn next." Time machines? On rereading, I realised that the writer, Mr. Asimov himself, I assume, meant "In 30 years time, machines will know ...", rather than "In 30 years, time machines will know ..." It seems that no-one knows how to properly use punctuation anymore. |
Posted on 21st November 2018 |
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There are no real surprises here, but this article on the BBC beautifully highlights Donald Trump's hypocrisy. Each of the first few paragraphs includes one or more accusations or judgments of Robert Mueller and his team. Each of them is something that Trump is way more guilty of than anyone he accuses:
As we say in England, hark at the pot calling the kettle black! |
Posted on 21st November 2018 |
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This story on the BBC reports that the Israeli government described the decision by Airbnb to withdraw homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank from its listings as "shameful". Since when can a company not make decisions about where it does business? Since these settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal under international law, if Airbnb continued to offer them, they would be open to lawsuits and/or criminal charges. The company therefore has a duty to minimise such risks. Their decision to do so is certainly not shameful; the strongest criticism that could be leveled against them is that they showed excessive caution. |
Posted on 21st November 2018 |
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This BBC report describes a chickenpox outbreak at a North Carolina school. 36 students at the school were diagnosed with chickenpox on Friday last week. Of the Waldorf School's 152 students, 110 have not received the vaccine for chickenpox, and 67.9% of the school's kindergarten students have religious immunisation exemptions on file. So, the conclusion is that the lack of immunisation has caused the outbreak.The anti-vaxxers, in exercising their right to choose what is best for their child, have also chosen for other children (including those whose parents support immunisation). If I was the parent of a child who caught chickenpox due to the decisions of anti-vaxxers, I would be suing those anti-vaxxers right now, and I encourage the affected parents to do just that. The school says "We, as a school, do not discriminate based on a child's medical history or medical condition." Well, in not discriminating against the anti-vaxxers' children, they have discriminated against the rest of their school population, and potentially people in the wider community. The school should also be sued. Choices and consequences! |
Posted on 4th January 2019 |
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Japan has announced that it is leaving the IWC (International Whaling Commission) and intends to restart commercial whaling, as reported by the LA Times. I find this news utterly disgraceful. Whales are not only mostly endangered, but are intelligent and social creatures which we really shouldn't be hunting. It irks me that the Japanese claim that it is traditional to hunt and eat whales; this is no excuse: it is also traditional in some societies to sell people into slavery, kill unwanted female children, ban women (of menstruating age) from temples, and use religion to justify war, but that doesn't make any of those things good. It also upsets me that hardly anyone in Japan eats whale meat anymore, and the meat from the so-called scientific whaling that Japan has conducted throughout its membership of the IWC has been hard to sell. The IWC is the perfect example of "International Law". The IWC rules only apply to nations who have signed up to them by joining the IWC, and members can leave whenever they choose. There is no enforcement system, and there are no consequences for breaking the rules. We need International Law with teeth, not just aspirations. People will probably strongly criticise me for saying this, even though it is tongue-in-cheek, but the last time that Japan was out of control, we dropped two atom-bombs on them. Maybe is is time to repeat the lesson. My point is that I consider the extinction of even one species a much more heinous crime than the deaths of mere hundreds of thousands of people; we have more than enough humans on this planet. Our planet is in crisis, and the widely held belief that a human is always and automatically more important than a member of another species, or indeed a whole species, is no longer valid (if it ever was). |
Posted on 14th November 2018 |
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The latest statement by British PM Theresa May, as reported by the BBC, proves that democracy is dead in the UK. Mrs. May said "This deal, which delivers on the vote of the referendum, which brings back control of our money, laws and borders, ends free movement, protects jobs, security and our Union; or leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all." In other words, there are three choices. The problem is that she doesn't want the people to choose: she is very strongly opposed to another referendum, and even fought hard (and lost) to stop a parliamentary vote on the deal, her argument being that the people have already voted in the first referendum. More importantly, it does not, as she claims, "deliver on ... the referendum". It is rather like if you went to a car dealership and selected a model of car to purchase, and chose several options: metallic grey paint, air conditioning, a sun-roof, and a 2 litre engine. Then, when you go to collect your new car, you find that it is painted black, has no air conditioning or a sun-roof, and has a 3 litre engine. Naturally, you tell the dealer that you don't want the car, because it is not what you ordered, but he tells you that you have to take it, because you have a contract with him. Of course, in the above scenario, the law is on your side: the contract is not valid, because the conditions were not met by the dealer. Unfortunately, in the case of Brexit, the law will not protect us. The country voted for Brexit on the basis of a bunch of "facts" which were not true, and also based on a list of promises by politicians which have not been fulfilled by the deal now on the table. Even so, Theresa May is telling us that we won't get to vote on the deal, because we already voted, even though her deal does not meet our expectations (i.e. the contract). In most walks of life and business, she would be in breach of contract, but sadly, in politics, things are very different. So many politicians do not seem to understand the difference between strong leadership and dictatorship. This is not just an issue in the UK: the USA, among others, also fails to get it; even though their lower house is called The House of Representatives, the members of that house consistently fail to represent the views of their constituents. |
Posted on 4th Janaury 2019 |
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This report on USA Today summarises the species which became extinct in 2018. These are just species which we know about, and the list does not include any insects, bacteria, viruses, or even fish. There is another report on Mashable, on the same subject. Although there is no proof that all the listed extinctions were caused by human activity, we are the prime suspect in most cases. Some people may argue that extinction is a natural phenomenon which has occurred throughout our planet's history, but the pace of species loss is currently higher than ever before (including the time when dinosaurs became extinct). Part of the problem is that evolution is being hampered by lack of available habitat for evolving species to occupy, due to agriculture, mining, and human habitation, so new species are not replacing those lost. Every year there is less wild habitat on our planet. Do you really want your descendants to grow up in a world where there are almost no other species; worse still, for humanity to also become extinct because we wiped out the species which made our ecosystem functional and our planet habitable? If you want to get an idea of what our future will probably look like, watch Soylent Green (made in 1973, but amazingly prescient). |
Posted on 13th November 2018 |
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This story from the BBC, about a security guard at a bar in the Chicago suburbs being shot by police, is shocking enough. There was gunfire at the bar, in the early hours of the morning, and the brave Mr. Roberson did more than his job by chasing down the attacker. When the police arrived, Jemel Roberson had the shooter on the ground, kneeling on his back, with his own licensed gun in his hand. Within seconds of the police arriving (i.e. without taking time to ascertain the facts) they had shot and killed the security guard (who, amazingly, happened to be black). What really shocked me, though, was this statement by witness Adam Harris: "Everybody was screaming out 'security, he was a security guard'", Mr Harris added, "and they still did their job and saw a black man with a gun and basically killed him". So, Mr. Harris, and presumably many more Americans, believe that the job of the police is to shoot black people (or at least those with guns). Mr. Harris will probably claim that he misspoke, or his words have been misquoted or taken out of context, but I feel that, whether intentionally or not, his words contain truth. How will we ever stop the killing of black people by the US police, when, deep down, US citizens feel that the job of the police is precisely that? |
Posted on 13th November 2018 |
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![]() ![]() Coincidence? Maybe not. Mathew Whitaker, the newly appointed interim Attorney General of the USA (in the left photo), seems to look amazingly like Wilson Fisk (right photo), the villain in Marvel's Daredevil TV series. Of course, it wouldn't be surprising to many if president Trump appointed a career criminal to the top law enforcement position in the country. |
Posted on 14th November 2018 |
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This story from AP News shows how horrifically complex it can be to properly protect the environment, unless some common sense is applied. North Dakota’s Health Department spent more than 1000 hours of department staff's time, over two years, and received more than 10,000 comments from the public, in its attempts to determine whether to grant a permit for a new oil refinery near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Having granted permission, they are now being criticised, and having to defend their decision in court. While I strongly applaud the principles at play here, I do feel that this is a case where working smarter, not harder, would be appropriate. This is how this kind of problem is dealt with in industry:
What this does, if done properly, is make it too expensive for the developer to fail to meet their obligations on environmental protection. The developer will, if they have any sense at all, conduct a thorough study of the risks and consequences of environmental damage, thus taking at least part of the job out of the hands (and off the budgets) of government agencies. The permit-granting authority still needs to do some environmental analysis, in order to set the pollution levels and associated financial penalties in the SLAs, but this would be far less onerous than it currently is. All this works on the principle that the potential polluter pays the cost of ensuring that no unacceptable pollution occurs, and if it does, the polluter will pay for cleaning it up. |
Posted on 13th November 2018 |
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The hypocrisy of the Trump White House team, as revealed by this Vox report, should be really shocking; sadly it is what we now expect from this administration. Donald Trump continued his war of words with CNN reporter Jim Acosta at a recent press conference; the reporter had the temerity to ask questions! Finally, a female intern was dispatched to take Jim Acosta's microphone from him; Jim naturally resisted. The poor Mr. Acosta was subsequently accused of "laying hands" on the intern. To support this fake news narrative, press secretary Sarah Sanders shared an altered video that appears to have originated with far-right conspiracy site Infowars (who are banned by most social media). I can hear you all thinking ".., but the Trump administration are the ones always accusing everyone else of fake news - they wouldn't dare do it themselves!" Well, they do dare to do so, and we should not stand for it. Let's look, for a moment at the legal arguments:
As Trevor Noah said on The Daily Show, the White House believes that touching a woman on the arm is inappropriate; he should have grabbed her by her private parts, which the president clearly believes is OK (since he boasted about it). |
Posted on 6th November 2018 |
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No wonder government agencies do such a poor job protecting our data. This story on the BBC describes how a porn-addicted worker at the US Geological Survey (USGS) infected computers on a government network by visiting malware-infected porn websites. The US Office of the Inspector General has recommended that the USGS blacklist "rogue" websites. You think? Duh! I find so many things incredible about this story:
It is not as if the threat posed by porn sites is a surprise. It is a well know problem. If you want to look at porn sites (and many people do - porn is one of the heaviest sources of Internet traffic), then do it from home, or somewhere else private, and use a virtual machine (which you can then easily periodically restore from a clean backup - i.e. from before you used it to access porn). Then any infection will only affect the VM (virtual machine), and can be easily dealt with by the restore. You can use VMs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. If you are concerned about people knowing that you look at porn, access it via a VPN (there are widely available options for free or low-cost VPNs). Also, choose your porn sites wisely (read a review to help decide which are safe). Of course, porn sites are not the only way to get infected with malware. The worst infection that I had was from a Microsoft site, when downloading a document template. Phishing emails are very common; you should never open email attachments from unknown sources. I use a quarantine VM to open email attachments that I am unsure about. You can read more about virtualisation and how to virtualise, although these are mostly focused on virtual machines running on Linux hosts. |
Posted on 6th November 2018 |
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I was very disappointed by this article, on the BBC. The issue of saving our planet by using technology is an important topic, but the journalist has made a complete dog's dinner of it. The article refers to several means of recovering "surplus energy", using techniques to capture energy from the wind created by passing vehicles, and by people walking on power generating pavements. This is not actually surplus energy: energy that would otherwise be wasted. The technology in question creates more drag for passing vehicles,and makes it harder to walk (because the surface is soft, rather than hard). Although I agree that there could be health benefits for some pedestrians using more energy while walking, this is not true for all users of footpaths, There is, however, absolutely no environmental benefit from creating more drag for vehicles, which are mostly powered by fossil fuels, and generating electricity from it; the only worse solution is to generate electricity from coal. What really shows the poor quality of the journalism, however, is the statement that a battery made from power station waste can store 500 Watts of energy (the report has now been updated to remove this piece of nonsense - I assume that someone else complained). 500 Watts is a measure of power (i.e. how fast a battery can be charged); energy (a battery's capacity) is typically measured in Joules (or Kilowatt hours). It is such a shame that Tim Bowler (the writer of this article) couldn't do this vital topic justice. |
Posted on 22nd October 2018 |
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This report on SFGate got me thinking. Apparently a man on a flight on Southwest Airlines flight sexually assaulted a sleeping woman; not once but twice. When the flight landed, the man was arrested and charged with abusive sexual contact. After his arrest, the perpetrator said (meant to be interpreted as in his defence, I assume) that the president of the United States "says it's OK to grab women by their private parts." Good point. If the guy from the Southwest was arrested and charged, why is it that the retard president has not been arrested? After all, there is a video of The Donald admitting that he did so. In such a case, there is probably no need to even identify a victim. Surely, the President of the USA is not above the law? [In case you are not sure, yes, that is sarcasm.] |
Posted on 22nd October 2018 |
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Before you ask, no, this is not the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This report on Science Alert is about another oil leak, actually close to the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The leak has been consistently under-reported, has been deliberately covered up, and oil slicks from it have often been confused with those from the Deepwater Horizon. To make matters worse, the company responsible is now effectively bankrupt, and its founder dead. Blocking the leaks seems impossible, and clean-up is not really happening. With the continuation of this spill, it is set to grow to be bigger than the Deepwater Horizon incident in the near future. Beaches are affected. Scientists recommend that people do not eat fish from the area. There are plans, at the US Federal level, to allow oil exploitation on the Atlantic coast of the USA, just to spread the joy, although state governments are trying to block those plans. Do we really need oil enough to pay this kind of price? The planet should be phasing out the use of fossil fuels, not opening more oil fields. The other important question is where is the Federal funding of the clean-up and repair (blocking the leaking wells)? There is a trust fund containing $450M, intended the cover the costs of any disasters (although the oil company has been attempting to recover these funds), but it is nowhere near enough. My opinion is that any additional funding should come from the US government. The oil leaks are not just polluting US waters, but the whole Gulf of Mexico, and wide afield (after all, the Gulf Stream originates there, and goes to the UK, Ireland, France, etc.). When will governments start taking responsibility for the decisions (e.g. licensing oil exploration and exploitation in environmentally sensitive areas)? Maybe the EU and Caribbean nations need to sue the US government for damage to their environment. |
Posted on 9th October 2018 |
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I need to be careful how I write this, to avoid being accused of being against women's rights and in favour of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape - which I am certainly not. The world has watched in horror and amazement as the saga of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing for the lifelong role of US Supreme Court Judge has unfolded. The battle was long and vicious, but in the end to no avail; he was confirmed anyway. Now we have the post-mortem analysis and the tearing out of hair. This piece, on USA Today, is one of very many, and like most such reports, seems to me to entirely miss the point. Please, don't get me wrong. I don't think that a belligerent drunk serial abuser of women is the right candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court. I find the man reprehensible, his victims have my sympathy, and I applaud those who stood up to be counted. For me, though, a far more important reason that Brett Kavanaugh is not suitable for his new job is that he demonstrated clearly, over and over again during the hearings, that he is a liar, full of prejudice, with anger issues, and who clearly felt that he had something to hide in front of the Senate Committee. A person like that is the last person who should be considered for any role as a judge, let alone a judge on the highest court in the land. This whole debacle just shows how messed up politics has become in the USA. How can the Senators who confirmed him hold their heads up in front of their constituents after casting such partisan and irrational votes? Sure, they clearly wanted to ensure a right-wing appointment, but couldn't they have found one with better character? It makes me wonder: would they have voted for an admitted paedophile for a seat on the Supreme Court, if his/her politics were right for them? |
Posted on 9th October 2018 |
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There have been a lot of reports lately about environmental issues. Some of them have highlighted the huge differences in the position of the USA (mainly just the position of President Trump) and the rest of the world. In this report from the BBC, climate scientists tell us clearly that limiting temperature rise to 2°C is not going to be enough, and that we need to aim for a rise of only 1.5°C. To achieve this, drastic action is needed, and a lot of money will need to be spent on the problem: coal will need to be completely phased out, oil consumption drastically reduced, and huge investments made in renewable energy and carbon capture. On the other hand, there is Donald Trump. He withdrew the USA from the Paris climate accord. He gibbers constantly about "clean coal", while not seeming to understand what the term even means, and is encouraging investment and growth in the US coal industry. He has also been pressing Saudi Arabia (who basically control OPEC) to increase oil production, so that oil prices will reduce. In fact, The Donald has done more than ask; he has already started trying to blackmail the Saudis ("King, we're protecting you. You might not be there for two weeks without us. You have to pay for your military."). Saudi Arabia has, thankfully, firmly said no, as reported here by Forbes. Thankfully, Saudi Arabia’s own interests currently coincide with saving the planet (or at least saving the human race). The slower that they sell their oil, the more money they will make, and the longer they will have income, further putting off the evil day when they are broke (again). Oil needs to be much more expensive, not less, in order to discourage its use, and encourage investment and innovation in renewable energy. Price is one of the very few factors which have any chance of reducing our use of oil and other fossil fuels. |
Posted on 18th September 2018 |
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I was simply gob-smacked when I read this report on Forbes. Apple are deleting content such as movies from the iTunes media libraries of people who had bought that content, without warning and totally without permission. Apple claim that they are not responsible, because they are only a "store front", and the media providers are the ones to blame. This is a flawed argument. Apple facilitated the original purchase (as a store front); now they are facilitating theft: they are accessories to a crime. To make matters worse, Apple's attitude when people complain and ask for compensation is simply not acceptable. If you complain quickly enough, you might get partial compensation, but if you wait too long you will get nothing. If I had a movie that I purchased deleted by Apple, I would have called the police; it is just the same as if someone had broken into my home and stolen a DVD. This kind of problem is exactly why I don't ever buy things on iTunes, although my girlfriend often buys music that way. I don't think that Apple and the various movie copyright owners understand the likely result of this theft: they are discouraging people from legally purchasing movies and music, and pushing them towards illegal downloads (which, if they want, they can load onto their portable devices with third-party software such as MediaMonkey). Anyway, for most people this is just another reason not to use iTunes (anyway a horrible piece of software), and indeed any Apple products. Unfortunately, Apple will probably not long remain the only offenders: as more people become more connected online, the uncontrolled access to the data on your systems will be more and more abused, both by companies and by hackers. |
Posted on 18th September 2018 |
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This story on Inquisitr just shows how messed up the world has become. Diane Douglas, soon to depart her position as Arizona State Superintendent, has hired a creationist, Joseph Kezele, who believes that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark, to help schools decide how best to teach evolution in science classes across the state. Joseph Kezele said "Plenty of space on the ark for dinosaurs – no problem." Whatever happened to facts, science and basic common sense? I am so glad that I don't have children (more likely grandchildren at this stage) going to school in Arizona. I suppose that this is what happens when you let religion and ideology interfere with education. |
Posted on 18th September 2017 |
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The record-breaking hurricane season continues in the Caribbean and Southern USA. Houston is still trying to recover from the floods brought by Harvey. Irma brought enormous destruction to many Caribbean islands, and to the Florida Keys, and millions of people evacuated much of Florida. There are, of course, more storms on the way: Jose is still building in the Atlantic, and Maria, although less powerful, is already in the Caribbean. Despite all this, the climate-change deniers are still denying, and the Trump administration has been trying to avoid even discussing any possible link between the storm damage and man-made climate change; but more on that in another post. Disasters always bring out the best and the worst in people. Two examples of the worst are:
How stupid are these people? |
Posted on 26th September 2018 |
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This video report by the BBC is a reality check on the recent statements by President Trump that the USA pays too much to the UN. The basic conclusion is that this is not true. UN assessed (non-optional) contributions work like income tax: the more you earn (in this case GDP), the more you pay. Calculated as a percentage of GDP, the USA pays less than all other rich nations. The USA treats the UN as a means to get official international legal recognition and support for its foreign policy, and expects the UN to do what it says Also, the USA is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which gives them more power and influence (including power to veto resolutions). I think that they should pay more, not less. If they don't like that, then they should stop giving UN members orders (and blackmailing them when they don't want to follow those orders). The current situation is a clear case of the USA having their cake and eating it. I am certainly not going to cry about the plight of this "poor" rich nation. |
Posted on 13th September 2018 |
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As a reminder to all of us about just how dangerous "killer robots" (AI weapons) are, there was this piece in Metro, reporting on a warning by Professor Jim Al-Khalili, incoming president of the British Science Association. The good professor says "Until maybe a couple of years ago had I been asked what is the most pressing and important conversation we should be having about our future, I might have said climate change or one of the other big challenges facing humanity, such as terrorism, antimicrobial resistance, the threat of pandemics or world poverty. But today I am certain the most important conversation we should be having is about the future of AI. It will dominate what happens with all of these other issues for better or for worse." In short, AI is extremely dangerous, and the risks and benefits need to be openly discussed, otherwise untrustworthy governments and companies will utilise the technology without public accountability. Imagine my surprise, then, when I read this report from the BBC, about how MEPs (Members of European Parliament) passed a resolution calling for an international ban on so-called killer robots. What worries me is not that the European Parliament is against killer robots, but the shocking fact that the UN was not able to pass a similar resolution: "Last month, talks at the UN failed to reach consensus on the issue, with some countries saying the benefits of autonomous weapons should be explored." I wonder which countries were against the ban? My guess is the permanent members of the UN Security Council: the USA, Russia, China, France and Britain. Britain has been working on battlefield AI for at least 30 years; the other countries for a similar period. The end of that road is an unlivable planet and the extinction of the human race. |
Posted on 13th September 2018 |
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It seems that President Trump did not pay attention to my previous criticism about the USA becoming a Rogue Nation (here), and is carrying on with his programme of isolating and embarrassing his country. The latest Rogue Nation act was to threaten the ICC (International Criminal Court) with sanctions if they proceed with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan. Even though the USA is not a participant in the ICC, and does not recognise it, the ICC has a more legitimate claim to jurisdiction in Afghanistan than does the USA, and its founders include several US allies. To take such extreme action against the ICC, and by association against US allies, is simply astounding, and arrogant. Less than a month ago, there was a report on the BBC about how Donald Trump was threatening to pull out of the WTO (World Trade Organisation, which the USA helped establish), basically because, the USA having broken WTO rules, the WTO was supporting the complaints against America. This is petulance, pure and simple. How long will the rest of the world stand by while America bullies anyone they choose, to get what they want? |
Posted on 12th September 2018 |
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For a very long time, my Lufthansa Miles and More card has been broken (physically cracked). Eventually (about 3 years ago) I requested a replacement card. They did something: they issued me a new card number. What they didn't do is send me the new card, nor did they inform me of the change of card number (I managed to find out my new card number by logging in to the Miles and More web-site using my old number). I do not understand why:
I am hesitant to request another new card, because I don't want another new card number. Because of the above issues, a couple of years ago I got a frequent flier card from SAS (like Lufthansa, SAS are part of the Star Alliance), and have been using that card for all my Lufthansa flights. Today, while trying to retrospectively claim missing points from my Lufthansa flights on my SAS card, I discovered that, for the last few weeks, Lufthansa has been ignoring the information in my booking (via Expedia, which has my SAS card details) about my SAS card, and instead allocating the points to my Lufthansa Miles and More card (against my wishes and without my permission). I spent some time on the Lufthansa and the Miles and More Apps on my phone, and also on the Lufthansa and Miles and More web-sites, to try to set my frequent flier number to that of my SAS card, without success. I also asked Google, with similar lack of success. It seems that it is simply not possible for customers to choose where their air miles go, except at check-in (not online, but only if you check in with a check-in clerk) or at the gate. Lufthansa pride themselves on the quality of their service, but it seems that this quality of service is only in their heads. It certainly isn't noticeable in the snacks and drinks offered on flights, or the support I have received regarding my loyalty cards. |
Posted on 14th August 2018 |
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So, Britain is not doing what the United States wants with regard to sanctions against Iran! This report, from the Voice of America, describes the US attempt to apply pressure on Britain to step into line behind the US sanctions, and it is as subtle as a brick. Donald Trump and his cronies are about as diplomatic as an AK-47. Remember, for a moment, that the USA unilaterally decided to pull out of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), better known as the Iran nuclear deal. The other signatories (Iran, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union) do not agree, and pleaded with America to stick with the deal, to no effect. The Trump administration chose to go it alone, but it seems that they don't like being alone after all, and are now trying to bully the UK to back them up. I think it is time for the UK's real-life Prime Minister to give the speech that the fictional Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant, gave in the movie "Love Actually". For those of you not familiar with the movie, and unwilling to watch the clip above, the text of the speech is: Press Conference Reporter: "Mr. President, has it been a good visit?" The President of the U.S.: "Very satisfactory indeed. We got what we came for and our special relationship is still very special." Press Conference Reporter: "Prime Minister?" Prime Minister: "I love that word 'relationship'. Covers all manner of sins, doesn't it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship. A relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm... Britain. We may be a small country but we're a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that." I wish! |
Posted on 26th July 2017 |
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This story on the BBC reports that BHP Billiton shareholders are suing BHP Billiton. They are doing this to recover their losses due to the slide in share prices (around 22%) after the dam collapse at one of the company's mines in Brazil in 2015. The dam failure at the Samarco mine (jointly owned by BHP and Vale, a Brazilian company) killed 19 people and led to Brazil's largest ever environmental disaster (supposedly - forest clearance is arguably Brazil's worst environmental catastrophe). Now shareholders are suing to recover lost shareholder value. There are, however, several things wrong with this picture.
Owning shares is not some children's game, where you make money if everything goes well, but if something goes wrong you will be bailed out by the courts or a government. Is is a game with potential rich rewords, but significant risks, and also with responsibilities. The power mostly lies with the big shareholders, not the small hobby investors, but these large shareholders are precisely who is behind this lawsuit. Time to either get out of investing in shares, or man-up and face the consequences. |
Posted on 25th July 2018 |
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Some time ago, I started referring to the USA as a Rogue Nation: the label that Western Nations apply to undemocratic nations which behave badly. Countries that have been called Rogue Nations include North Korea, Iran, Russia, Libya, Venezuela, Syria and Turkey. Here is a summary of the main reasons why I consider this label appropriate.
You might not agree with all the above arguments, and may not agree that all of them qualify the USA as a Rogue Nation, but the list is long enough that (I hope) you agree there is a case to be made. The question is, what to do? What the international community normally does to reign in Rogue Nations is to apply sanctions, to the nation as a whole, and/or to individuals in government and business. Is it time to start applying sanctions to the USA? Most countries do not have the courage and economic strength to take on America, at least not alone, but given the blossoming trade wars around the world, where nations are anyway starting to impose import tariffs on US goods and services, it is no longer such a big step to ramp them up to punish the USA for its broader behaviour. You know what you need to do: VOTE! |
Posted on 19th July 2018 |
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It seems that things have been turned on their heads recently. After years of trying to stamp out prejudice, two groups who are often victims of discrimination, disabled and transgender people, seem to be telling us that discrimination is good. This story from the BBC reports that Scarlett Johansson quit a role playing a transgender person because of a backlash from LBGT community. It seems that these people feel that transgender people should only be played by transgender actors. This story, also from the BBC, discusses whether the role as a disabled person, played by Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), should have been played by an actual disabled actor. In both these cases, the idea is ridiculous and the height of discriminatory. I would be laughing if I didn't think that such ridiculous arguments could actually gain some traction in the messed up world of political correctness. |
Posted on 19th July 2018 |
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I can't believe the hypocrisy of the people who criticised Mara Martin (as reported by the BBC here). It is very common for catwalk models to be dressed in highly revealing outfits: clothing that is largely transparent, or which leaves a breast bare or only partially covered. That, apparently, is OK with these people, but someone breast-feeding on the catwalk (even though, in the photograph there is really nothing to see) is somehow shocking. I know that attitudes differ around the world, and that things like public nakedness and breast-feeding in public are not so tolerated in more backward nations (like the USA), but please, give me a break from your petty and old-fashioned opinions. I think that part of the problem may be guilt. Many mothers in the USA do not breast-feed, but know that they really should. Seeing someone else doing so reminds them, and makes the feel guilty (and perhaps they should feel guilty). |
Posted on 17th July 2018 |
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This article by the BBC describes the results of an Inquiry into the ethical issues surrounding genetically altering a human embryo; their conclusion is that there is “no absolute reason not to pursue it”. This seems to me to be the thin end of the wedge. Once genome editing of human embryos is partially allowed, it will only be a matter of time before absolutely anything is allowed in this area of medicine. Then we will be in the age of designer babies. The question in my mind is, what problem, exactly, are we trying to solve with this? Clearly there are more than enough people on our planet already: over 7 billion and rising. There are also plenty of children available for adoption and fostering (which I have done), so there is no inherent problem of childless couples wanting to raise kids. The core of the problem is that people want to raise children: their own children, not somebody else’s kids. People carrying genetic code causing illness and death, often making their embryos non-viable, still want to conceive, give birth to and raise children. The question is, just because we can, should we be spending our tax money on enabling them to do so? Do people really (as so many seem to think) have a right to reproduce: yet another “inalienable human right” to add to the ever-growing list? If the human race were at risk of extinction due to low reproductive rates or genetic disease, I would say yes, we should help them, but that is far from the case, and I certainly do not subscribe to the idea that anyone has a right to reproduce. I am sure many people disagree with my position on this very strongly. In that case, feel free to support the necessary medical research and costs of providing the service of genetic fixes to aid reproduction, yourselves (i.e. by private charitable donations). I do not want my tax being spent on this. |
Posted on 17th July 2018 |
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In this article, on GQ Magazine, the title says it all: "Brexit was always going to leave the country worse off". That is what I thought all along, but it was sold the the voting public (I was not allowed to vote in the referendum, having been out of the UK too long) on the basis that Britain would be better off financially outside the EU. Do you think that maybe we were all lied to during the Brexit referendum campaign? Well, of course we were, just like in every election campaign. The voting public falls for the lies every time. One of the main criticisms in the GQ article is that there was no plan: not before the referendum, and not even before triggering Article 50 (after which Britain only has two years to negotiate Brexit terms). I think that is a very good point. I understand that David Cameron expected the opposite result from the referendum, but it would have been prudent to have at least an outline plan, just in case. The pro-Brexit camp should also have had a plan. Even now, after more than a year, the government's plan is not concrete; more of a wish-list than a plan, and everything in it is open for negotiation (not negotiation with the EU, but with rebellious Tory MPs, as Theresa May struggles to stay in power). If I did my job as badly as these politicians do their's, I would expect to be fired. I think firing these inept politicians is exactly what should happen. Just remember that when the next election comes around in the UK. |
Posted on 19th July 2018 |
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The latest stupidity from President Donald Trump (as reported in this piece from the BBC, and this one from DW) is just stunning. He is suggesting that, if Montenegro (a paid up member of NATO) is attacked, the USA might not be willing to honour its commitments under Article 5 of the NATO founding treaty, which require all NATO members to treat an attack on one member as an attack on all members). He said several things, one of which is that Montenegro was not paying into NATO, which is simply not true (mentioned in the DW article - around 1.66% of GDP, and committed to raise it to 2% percent by 2024, as agreed by other NATO members). He also said that Montenegro is "a very strong people, ... very aggressive people. They may get aggressive and, congratulations, you're in World War Three." I think maybe he is confusing them with the USA, who are most definitely strong and aggressive, and quite capable of starting World War Three. Apparently, President Trump is unaware that Article 5 has been invoked only once, by the USA, after the 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center. Add to that that Montenegro has contributed a disproportionate (based on their population, as mentioned in the DW article, and their GDP) amount of military assistance in Afghanistan. I do not really understand why Americans are so against NATO, and Article 5 in particular. After WWII, NATO was created primarily to protect the USA by providing an expendable buffer-zone of countries which would need to be defeated before any effective attack (conventional or nuclear) could be mounted against the USA. The European members of NATO get no credit for providing this "suicide squad", nor for bolstering US forces in wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, and providing logistical and medical support to US forces. Maybe European nations are safer without the USA. It would certainly reduce the number of reasons for being attacked by Russia. |
Posted on 25th June 2018 |
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Last week, apparently, was bad-science week. I must have missed the announcement. This promotional video on LinkedIn (if the link doesn't work for you, simply visit https://www.linkedin.com, search for "turbine traffic" and click the "Content" button) is about a wind turbine which creates electricity from passing traffic. The idea that the video authors seem to be pushing is that the electricity thus generated is free. This is, of course, total nonsense. What is actually happening is that the turbines create extra drag for the passing vehicles, meaning that they consume more fuel. In effect, the turbines are stealing energy from the vehicles. The video states a figure, obviously intended as the power output of a turbine: "One turbine can create 1 Kilowatt of electricity per hour". This is gibberish. A Kilowatt is a measure of power (like a 1 Kilowatt electrical heater), but 1 Kilowatt per hour is a rate of change of power output, and is meaningless in this context. No wonder so many of the public do not understand science, when it is misreported like this. |
Posted on 5th June 2018 |
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This story on the Washington Post is shocking. Rustem Kazazi, a US citizen, was on his way to his country of birth, Albania, hoping to invest his life savings ($58,000) in a holiday home. He took the money with him in cash, because of concerns about high levels of crime in Albania. According to the Washington Post: "On Oct. 24, Kazazi arrived at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport [Ohio]to begin the first leg of his journey, which would take him to Newark to connect with an international flight. He carried the cash in three counted and labeled bundles in his carry-on bag, he said, along with receipts from recent bank withdrawals and documentation pertaining to his family's property in Tirana, the Albanian capital". He intended to file papers about the cash he was taking out of the USA, in Newark (the airport from which he was to leave the USA), in full compliance with the law. In short, Mr. Kazazi did nothing wrong (apart from not being very good in English, when questioned by the customs agents questioned him): “They asked me some questions, which I could not understand as they spoke too quickly... I asked them for an interpreter and asked to call my family, but they denied my request”. Nevertheless, his cash was confiscated through a "process known as civil asset forfeiture, a law enforcement technique that allows authorities to take cash and property from people who are never convicted or even charged with a crime". In 2017, federal authorities seized assets worth more than $2 billion through such seizures. The initial receipt that the customs agents gave Mr. Kazazi at the airport did no specify the value of the cash they confiscated. More than a month later, another receipt arrived, but the sum it listed was $770 less than the sum taken. Since the cash was all in $100 bills, it is impossible for the total to be $57,330. So now, understandably Mr. Kazazi is suing to get his money back. I think that I would probably take a different approach. This seems to be a clear and simple case of theft. The money was taken without any legal justification, as proven by the absence of any charges against Mr. Kazazi, and the amount on the receipt does not match the sum confiscated. I make that two separate counts of theft. Criminal charges should be brought. In the primary case of the confiscation, the agents were either acting unofficially, or they were acting under the authority of the federal government. I therefore believe that the agents should be charged individually, and the federal government should also be charged. Regarding the issue of the mismatching amounts, the agents seem to be acting privately, and should be charged as such. This kind of abuse of the law needs to be stamped out, hard. |
Posted on 5th June 2018 |
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I just had the most bizarre phone conversation with a man at the Munich Finanzamt (Tax Office). I don't know whether the problem is with the staff that work there, or the systems and infrastructure that they work with. One of my colleagues has a problem with his tax. He is one of many working for my employer who arrived last year from India. Having paid tax in India, he is due to get money back from the German tax authorities. Unlike the dozens of others in this situation, he is having problems, and yesterday asked me to translate a letter he had received from the tax office. Today he phoned the tax office to get clarification about what information and documents he should send. The bureaucrat who answered spoke very little English, so I was asked to speak to him in German. The tax official was asking for a copy of a letter. This letter was sent to my colleague by the tax office, but apparently it is not possible for them to find this letter, and they need him to send them a copy. My colleague, being Indian, has a surname which is unusual in Germany, and also very easy to spell. I would have thought that being able to look people up by name would be a basic function of any filing system or database, but apparently this is not the case at the Finanzamt. |
Posted on 29th May 2018 |
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This politician is unbelievable. As reported in this piece on Roll Call, Congressman Rohrabacher says it’s "OK to not sell homes to gay people". He wants the law changed to allow this kin of prejudice. I thought, in the USA at least, we had got past this kind of prejudice, but apparently, I was wrong. So, if we are going to change the law to make it legal to refuse to sell homes to gay people, why stop there? While we're at it, let's also legalise refusing to sell to other groups: fat people, ugly people (Representative Rohrabacher will be shit out of luck on those first two), Muslims, Roman Catholics, immigrants, women, Democrats, people who drive mustangs, people who eat sushi, and so on? Those changes to the law will make the world a much better place, right? |
Posted on 24th May 2018 |
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I have to admit that I have trouble understanding the degree to which people are getting upset by the continuing "Take a knee" protests in the American NFL (National Football League). The latest development, reported in this BBC article, worries me. The latest development is that players will be fined for taking a knee during the US national anthem. If they do not wish to participate in the ceremony, in which players stand (usually with their hand on their chest in a form of salute) during the national anthem, which begins each game, they may stay in the locker room until it is over. In my view, this new policy violates two basic rights:
I suppose that we shouldn't let facts, or anything so irrelevant as the US constitution, interfere with a good row. |
Posted on 24th May 2018 |
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This BBC report describes how the UK's Ministry of Defence is worried. Apparently "Robots that train themselves in battle tactics by playing video games could be used to mount cyber-attacks, the UK military fears". I think there is much more to be worried about. AI is already being developed for use on the battlefield. If AI is teaching itself from video games (artificial realities where normal ethics are either non-existent or of lower than usual priority), then the robots engaging in the wars of the future will be the most ruthless and cruel soldiers that ever existed. This is not some vague risk in the future: "Researchers in Silicon Valley are using strategy games, such as Starcraft II, to teach systems how to solve complex problems on their own". We don't allow our children unsupervised learning until they have developed some moral sense. We certainly can't expect that unsupervised learning by AI will be a safe and successful exercise. Welcome to The Age of Ultron. |
Posted on 24th May 2018 |
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The BBC has done it again! In a report, here, about how Deutsche Bank will shed at least 7,000 staff, the anonymous author wrote "Deutsche Bank employs about 66,000 people in Europe - including 42,000 in Germany, 21,000 in Asia and about 10,000 in North America". Since when are Asia and North America in Europe? I know that I would have lost marks if I had written this statement in my school geography homework. Maybe we should do as Elon Musk suggests, and mark the media on their performance (here, on Inverse). |
Posted on 22nd May 2018 |
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I was totally gob-smacked when I read this Science Mag news item. Representative Mo Brooks (yes, a US Congressman!) believes that rising sea levels are being caused not by global warming, but by rocks falling into the sea. The simple application of some common sense, or a bit of trivial mathematics, will tell you that his idea is complete nonsense. The majority of the earth's surface is covered by oceans, and the proportion of the planet's landmass that would need to fall into the ocean to create noticeable sea level rise is truly staggering. I understand that not everyone understands science, but if you don't, then you should at least have a bit of trust in what scientists tell us. Given that science is not even needed to poke holes in Representative Brooks' ideas, we have to wonder how on earth he managed to get elected. Not only is Mo Brooks arguably stupid, but I wonder about the intelligence of the people who voted him into office; this is probably not the first time that he has publicly humiliated himself in this way, and he has won two elections, so apparently the voters in Alabama don't care that their representative is stupid and ignorant. After discussing the news story with a friend, I am forced to consider an alternative thesis: that Representative Mo Brooks is actually very clever, in that he understands exactly how much stupidity and ignorance will be tolerated, or even lauded, by his Alabama voters; he knows that the theory about rocks falling into the sea is total nonsense, but is also aware that most of his constituency doesn't see it as nonsense. He is simply playing to the gallery. This just reinforces my opinion that democracy isn't working, and not only in the USA. |
Posted on 16th May 2018 |
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The stream of stories about gun control issues continues in this piece from The Telegraph. Like so many of such stories, it cements the case against guns. Richard Remme was playing with his dog, a pitbull/Labrador cross, on the sofa at his home in Iowa, when the dog accidentally shot him in his leg. The dog had managed to turn off two safeties, and to pull the trigger of the gun, which was in a belly band. The gun lobbyists' argument is that guns, when carried by responsible and trained people, increase safety for everyone. Well clearly Mr. Remme is neither responsible nor trained, which is arguably true about most private gun owners in the USA. Thank goodness that private ownership of guns is not generally legal, in Germany, where I live. If you want a gun, the best option, according to the news, is to take one from a policeman; that should be hard to do, but according to this report in The Telegraph it is not. |
Posted on 15th May 2018 |
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The second paragraph of this story begins with "But, truth be told, not a lot is definitively known about the weed industry... ", and that is most certainly true of Sean Williams the author of this piece in The Motley Fool. He states that "After all, marijuana is still illegal in every country around the world, save for Uruguay". This is simply not true. Marijuana is legal in The Netherlands, and also at the Federal level in Germany (German states have their own local legislation, so that marijuana is legal in some, and illegal in others). Canada is part-way through the process of leglising it, and the legislation should be finally passed in June 2018. Several other countries have moved marijuana into the legal grey zone by decriminalising possession of small amounts, or simply declining to prosecute such possession, or are currently considering doing so. Most of the rest of the article is filled with fuzzy statistics because "not a lot is definitively known about" an industry which (in the USA) is legal in some states, but still illegal federally (meaning that assets can be seized by the FBI, and people in the industry cannot open bank accounts for their businesses). The usual answer to information being hard to get, is to do some journalistic research (not simply Googling for the answers). Some journalists seem to make a living from such shoddy work. I hope I manage to remember this journalist‘s name, so that I can avoid future disappointment with his writing. |
Posted on 15th May 2018 |
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Why are help-desks always such rubbish? I tried a few months ago to connect Outlook on my laptop to my employer‘s email system. I crashed my Outlook, and had to build a new profile. After a while it became urgent to get Outlook working with the company email, because my mailbox was limited to 50MB, meaning that it filled up every few days, and I had to delete important emails to make space. I spent 90 minutes on a call to the company help-desk, trying to get it working, without success. Today a colleague told me the trick, which took 2 minutes to explain, and I have it working. The same trick works with Skype For Business (Lync). Why was the help-desk not able to help me? Do companies have special recruitment programmes to ensure that only the most stupid people work on help-desks? |
Posted on 21st February 2018 |
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These two reports by the BBC really show what a terrible state the German armed forces are in. The first report, from UK Defence Journal, describes how the air force has been filling the fuel tanks of their Tornado jets with a fuel mixture containing too much bio-diesel.Now all the fuel tanks need to be flushed, putting many aircraft out of commission. Also, because of maintenance issues, the Luftwaffe’s Eurofighter and Tornado fighter jets and its CH-53 transport helicopters are only available for use an average of four months a year. The article also contains some alarming statistics about the German army's ninth tank brigade which has only nine operational Leopard 2 tanks, instead of the promised 44, and only three of the promised 14 Marder armored infantry vehicles. The second report, from the BBC, describes how no submarines or large transport planes were available for service at the end of last year: "At the end of the year six out of six submarines were not in use. At times, not one of the 14 Airbus A-400M could fly". The condition of the military's fleet of fighter planes, tanks, helicopters and ships is described as "dramatically bad". To put this all into context, Germany is supposed to be the leader of NATO's Russian-aimed Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, hence the use of the word "promised" in relation to the number of vehicles above. The German military is meant to be our first line of defence against threats from Russia, but are clearly not up to the task. Let's just hope they are not needed. |
Posted on 11th January 2018 |
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Here is a summary of some of the recent news about climate change. This report from Business Insider includes maps of the best places to live to avoid the adverse effects of climate change, taking into account health-care, food supply, and government stability. Scandinavia and New Zealand score high. While most people will not move to a different country just because of worries about climate change, if you are anyway thinking of relocating, this might be something important to take into consideration. As reported in this piece by Science Alert, warmer climate is causing more Green sea turtles to be born female. These turtles do not develop into males or females due to sex chromosomes, like humans and most other mammals do; instead, the temperature outside a turtle egg influences their sex. This is putting this species at risk of extinction. Some good news: Science Alert reports that Britain Now Generates Twice as Much Electricity From Wind as Coal, and getting better every year. Newsweek reports on a story from Science, about how the ocean is running out of oxygen: "a four-to-tenfold increase in areas of the ocean with little to no oxygen". Since half of Earth’s oxygen originates from the ocean, this is bad news for ground-based life as well as ocean life. Some more good news, reported by the BBC. Northern Forest: a plan to plant 'ribbon of woodland' across England, with some financial support by the UK government. Some bad news: the BBC reports on the Trump administration's to expand offshore drilling in the Pacific and Atlantic, although Florida is for some reason exempt. Some good news, as reported by Science Af although I have low expectations for the outcome: New York City Sues ExxonMobil, Shell And Other Oil Majors Over Climate Change. The New York City government is suing the world's five largest publicly traded oil companies, seeking to hold them responsible for present and future damage to the city from climate change. |
Posted on 11th January 2018 |
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If anything proves that the UK government is mismanaging the Brexit process, this article from the BBC proves it. It seems that Mrs. May’s government has not commissioned any impact assessments about Brexit. The decision about Brexit is probably the most important single decision to be taken by the UK in decades. Not only has the Conservative government back-peddled as hard as possible about giving parliament and the public a chance to vote on whether to go ahead with whatever deal they manage to negotiate for Brexit, but they have done nothing to provide information for MPs and the public upon which they can decide how to vote. This is a major abrogation of responsibility, and is the very opposite of democracy. If the government are unable to act responsibly, and do not support democracy, then they are not fit to govern. |
Posted on 3rd November 2017 |
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Irrespective of which side you feel is right in the Spanish Catalonian independence crisis, I think you can probably admit that it is chaos, and is bringing out the worst on both sides. There is, however, something in this BBC report that especially concerns me. The story describes how the prosecutor asked that 8 Catalonian politicians be jailed (and they have now been jailed), and another granted bail (he was jailed until his bail was paid). The same story also states that none of these politicians have yet been formally charged. I don't know of any other western country where it would be legal to jail someone, or to require bail, when they have not been charged. Spain must have a very bizarre and antiquated legal system. Do they still have the "Spanish Inquisition"? |
Posted on 3rd November 2017 |
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This piece on The BBC reports on a recent tweet by President Donald Trump that he feels the New York truck attacker, Sayfullo Saipov, "should get the death penalty". Maybe he should be put to death; maybe he shouldn't, but the US president (especially the president) should keep his opinions on the matter to himself. See here for a concise summary about the three separate branches of the US government (Executive, Legislative and Judicial). This embodies an important principle; the independence of the Judiciary. It seems to that the Donald is trying to influence the courts on the sentencing of the accused, in a case that is only just beginning (meaning that Saipov has not even been found guilty yet). I think the judge in this case should make it his or her first order of business to fine the president for contempt of court, for preempting the judgment, and attempting to influence any sentencing that may result. It is time people started pushing back on the ranting moron. |
Posted on 21st October 2017 |
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I am shocked at the ignorance displayed by Justice Robert Smith, an Ontario Superior Court Judge, as reported here by the BBC. The man doesn't seem to know the law at all. In a rape case brought by a woman against her husband for multiple instances of non-consensual sex, the judge ruled that, despite being convinced that non-consensual sex had taken place, the man was not guilty because the prosecution failed to prove that the accused knew his behaviour was criminal. Is he crazy! It is a well know and well established legal principle that ignorance of the law is no excuse: you don't have to know that your actions are against the law for those actions to be criminal; except, apparently, in Justice Smith's court. This degree of ignorance of the law would be bad enough in a junior judge or magistrate, but this man sits on the Ontario Superior Court, at which elevated position we should expect and even demand higher standards of knowledge and good judgement. Disciplinary action is called for, as well as revisiting the rape case. Maybe even firing the judge is called for. |
Posted on 21st October 2017 |
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The situation described in this BBC story is disgusting. The city of Dickinson, about 30 miles (48km) south of Houston, has imposed conditions for seeking government money for repairs after the category 4 Hurricane Harvey. The conditions are that "... the Applicant: (1) does not boycott Israel; and (2) will not boycott Israel during the term of this Agreement." The city argues that they have to do this because of a Texas law, known as the Anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestments, and Sanctions) bill. Similar laws exist in other states. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called this "an egregious violation" of free speech rights under the First Amendment. "The First Amendment protects Americans' right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression". The attempt by the city of Dickinson to make aid money conditional on not boycotting Israel is blackmail, clear and simple. Blackmail is a crime, even for government. Also, it seems clear to me that these Anti-BDS laws are illegal, being in breach of the constitution. There is a well established process for dealing with laws that are themselves illegal, which is to break the lower-level law, and honour the higher-level law (in this case, the constitution), and if/when someone makes a legal challenge of your actions, to fight it in court, if necessary all the way to the Supreme Court. The fact that the city of Dickinson has not chosen this course, shows us that they actually approve of the Texas Anti-BDS law. Whether or not Israel is right or wrong, and whether or not you believe that the state of Israel deserves to be boycotted, has nothing to do with this case. People have a right to hold and to express their opinions, up to and including boycotting. No-one has a right to tell the citizens of Dickinson what they are allowed to spend their money on. An important legal principle, practised in virtually all western nations, is the separation of the legal system from government, and for very good reason. In this case, those boundaries have been crossed by the city of Dickinson, in their choice of which law to uphold, and which to break. I hope that the politicians involved are held to account, both in court and at the next election. |
Posted on 21st October 2017 |
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I am sure that the researchers at Google, described in this report on Business Insider, are very pleased with themselves. I am somewhat less than pleased. In May this year, they developed an artificial intelligence (AI) designed to help them create other AIs. Now it has demonstrated its abilities by "building machine-learning software that’s more efficient and powerful than the best human-designed systems." In my last post on this subject (here) I listed 3 things that AI must not be allowed to do, to avoid the AI apocalypse. The first 2 had already begun; this new work by Google is the last item. As I wrote on 23rd February 2017, basically, we are screwed. Would it be too much to ask the people working on AI to finally show some moral compunction, and to apply some common sense? |
Posted on 11th October 2017 |
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I am almost speechless after reading this report from the BBC. It is wrong in so many ways. A man in the USA, Christopher Mirasolo, was convicted of raping a woman, who was 12 years old at the time. The woman became pregnant, and now has a son, who is 8 years old. Mirasolo was sentenced to one year in jail, but only served six-and-a-half months. Since then, Mirasolo has been convicted of other crimes: he sexually assaulted another victim between the ages of 13 and 15 and was jailed for another four years. A DNA test has recently shown that he is the father of the victim's son, and the judge has therefore granted Mirasolo joint custody of the boy. He has ordered that the birth certificate be updated to show that Mirasolo is the father, and has ordered the mother and son to move from Florida back to Michigan, presumable so that Mirasolo can have easy access to the boy. The real sting in the tail is that Mirasolo is a registered sex offender, and his supervision conditions include having a "responsible adult" present if he is with a minor. It must be clear to anyone with at least half a brain that this man is not fit to act as anyone's parent, and it is not safe for him to have custody of or visitation rights to any child. Even if none of these issues were there, I do not see how it could ever be fair to force the mother and child to move the length of the country so that the father can have access. The judge in this case should, as an absolute minimum, receive appropriate retraining, and actually should probably be fired. |
Posted on 16th October 2017 |
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Two recent reports about Brexit highlight the hypocrisy, lies, broken promises and arrogance of the UK's conservative government. This piece by the BBC reports Theresa May as saying "where money needs to be spent it will be spent". I find this very strange, given that saving the UK taxpayer money was one of the justifications used by pro-Brexiters during the Brexit referendum campaign; all that nonsense about £350M a week extra for the NHS (National Health Service) after Brexit. The real facts of the matter are that there will be lots of costs from leaving the EU: the "divorce" bill, the extra costs of customs and immigration controls (especially in relation to Ireland), the bureaucratic costs of repealing EU specific legislation and of replacing it with UK legislation, additional bureaucratic costs for business importing from and exporting to the EU, bureaucratic costs for government in processing VAT and import duties for trade with the EU, costs (e.g. health insurance) for Brits who travel to the EU for work or vacation, and many many more costs. This piece, also by the BBC, gives a summary of a recent opinion poll, which shows that people (at least people in Wales) are not willing to lose any money as a result of Brexit. The same is probably true of most of the UK populace. So, the government is prepared to pay whatever it takes to leave the EU, but the citizens are not. Good luck squaring that circle! How many ways, and how many times, does the government need to be told that the terms that are being discussed for Brexit are not acceptable to the voting public? Whatever the reasons of principle for leaving the EU (themselves questionable at best), they do not justify the approach of Brexit at any cost. People were asked to vote in a referendum on the basis that Brexit would save them money, and given the facts that are now on the table, their decision is now clearly invalid. The people do not want Brexit at any cost, and it is time that the government listened. |
Posted on 2nd October 2017 |
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The issues described in this article from The Economist are probably all too familiar to many readers. Things are being deliberately made more and more difficult to repair: either simply constructed to be hard to fix, or only repairable with specialist equipment. This problem is becoming endemic in very many industries, affecting smart-phones, tractors, cars, computers, furniture, bathroom fittings office equipment, etc. It is not only in items which contain software, but also purely mechanical things. One notable exception is goods from IKEA, probably because their flat-pack furniture comes with tools for assembly, and they want to minimise the number of tools that they give away with the furniture, but other manufacturers are now frequently building their products with non-standard screws and bolts (just look at the vast array of different types of screw-heads here). The other aspect of this problem is built-in obsolescence. Machines and even passive items like bathroom fittings and equipment are now designed to wear out, often annoyingly quickly. This might be good for the manufacturers, but it is not good for our bank balances, and also not for the environment: we are forced to throw things away after two or three years because they are worn out or broken, and cannot be repaired. As an example, the cistern on my toilet needs to be regularly serviced because of lime-scale build-up, otherwise it just runs all the time, but each time I remove the cover, another piece of plastic falls off, and as a result it will soon need to be replaced, adding another piece of plastic to be disposed of. Manufacturers, unfortunately, are getting much better at designed-in obsolescence: if they design something to have a service-life of 3 years, it is very unlikely to last for 4 years. The Economist's story describes a movement to establish a legal right to be able to repair products, which would certainly help. Another trend is a library of 3D printer patterns, which you can download to print replacement parts at home (if you have a 3D printer at home, which most of us do not), but manufacturers have refused to supply their designs for use in creating these parts libraries, and have even sued third parties (under patent and copyright laws) who have created such libraries independently. I rather like the French laws on this matter, where planned obsolescence (designing a product for a limited lifespan) is already an offence punishable by up to €300,000 ($354,000) or up to 5% of the maker’s average annual sales in France, whichever is higher, and manufacturers have to tell customers how long they can expect the goods to last. At last, at least in France, it is possible for consumers to make informed decisions on the total lifetime cost of ownership; this urgently needs to be added to the legislation in other countries. Given the environmental imperative (so many of the items in our homes and workplaces are plastic, or contain toxic metals), we should not be forced to throw things away so often, with no option to repair. I might not always choose to repair something, but I would like to have the choice. The other issue that The Economist raises is that of ownership. This is mainly a problem when a piece of equipment has a software component, but also applies to music and movies. If you have a smart-phone, as most of you do, you own the hardware, but not the software that makes it work, in the same way as Mr. Guy Mills and his John Deere tractor (he is allowed to repair the hardware, if he has the right tools, but not the right to repair or modify the software, which controls everything from the engine to the armrests, because he doesn't own it). If you own a Tesla self-driving car, you also don't own the software, and terms of use apply: you are not allowed to use the vehicle to make money with ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft (apparently because the firm plans soon to launch its own such service, called “Tesla Network”). If you use Microsoft's Office-360. you are probably already aware that you didn't buy it: you leased it. I have been resisting the use of non-owned products as much as I can, for a while now, but they are so ubiquitous that it is impossible to avoid them completely: Smart-phones are the obvious example; I need to have one, for work, and there really are no options for owning the software components. I really think we need some enhancement of our legal right in this area. |
Posted on 25th September 2017 |
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Apparently, this story from NBC, on Flipboard is supposed to pluck at our heartstrings; we are expected to feel sympathy for the 5-year-old who can't attend school because she is not vaccinated, and for her family. Well, I do not. They made a choice, as is their right, and they have to face the consequences. There are more and more outbreaks of disease due to the growing number of people who do are not vaccinated, and more and more diseases are becoming more dangerous (drug resistance of the diseases, reduced resistance to disease amongst people, etc.). Some families choose to not vaccinate their children on religious grounds, and some because they believe that vaccinations are harmful (this despite the claims of autism and other side-effects due to vaccination having been comprehensively debunked). We should remember, however, that having the right to choose to not vaccinate your kids does not give you the right to be protected from the consequences of your choices, even if the reasons for your choices are valid. If you are allowed to send your child to school without vaccinations, you put at risk all the other children, and even adults. Schools have a mixture of ages, and some younger kids will be too young to have been vaccinated against some diseases. Some adults may have had vaccinations which have become ineffective over time, and need a booster; some adults cannot be given the necessary boosters due to being pregnant, or for medical reasons. Why should these people be threatened by your choices? It may be that we are not being hard enough on the anti-vaxxers. The unvaccinated (children and adults) are a danger to others not only at school, but at social gatherings, in shops, on public transport, in restaurants, at swimming pools and beaches, and even at hospitals, doctors and dentists. The sensible precaution would be to shun them, and ensure that they can be easily identified in public, just like in medieval times with lepers (who were forced to carry a bell, shout "unclean", and live segregated lives), although, to be clear, I am not proposing this. Rather than complaining about the consequences that these people face now, with no access to schools in more and more places, they should rather consider themselves lucky that they are not treated like lepers. People can be very cruel when their health and safety, and that of their children, are threatened. |
Posted on 18th September 2017 |
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This report on the BBC shows that the world is still full of prejudice and stupidity, even amongst people who make and enforce laws. On the island of Zanzibar (part of Tanzania) 20 people have been arrested for homosexuality, while they were receiving training about HIV/Aids education programmes. This is after authorities earlier this year banned many private health clinics from providing HIV/Aids services, saying they encouraged gay sex. Time to wake up to the real world, Tanzania! HIV is now just as prevalent in the heterosexual community as it is amongst gays. Trying to stamp out homosexuality with the excuse that you are trying to reduce HIV is total rubbish. I have been to Tanzania, including to Zanzibar, and I know that many people there are devout Muslims, especially on Zanzibar, where there seem to be a lot of religious schools. If you want to act against homosexuality because you believe it is against your religious law, then fine (that would be a matter to be discussed between Muslims, and not really any of my business), but please don't use ridiculous arguments about limiting the spread of HIV. Using such phoney arguments just insults our intelligence. Scientific studies show that encouraging the use of condoms (for gay and straight sex), and handing out free, clean needles for intravenous drug users, is much more effective in reducing the spread of HIV than trying to stamp out gay sex. |
Posted on 20th September 2017 |
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There is something very worrying going on. DRM (Digital Rights Management) is being rolled out, apparently to all the main web-browsers. This is an attempt to ensure that web-visitors do not steal and re-use people's IPR (Intellectual Property Rights - copyrighted, patented and trademarked material). It is being done by the W3C, the body that manages web-related standards, as a result of lobbying and other influences by large corporate members. These two articles will give you an idea about what is going on:
The article from Mozilla is fairly long, and you may not want to read it all, but it does describe what they have done to prevent the EME code, which is from Adobe, from leaking your identity information to organisations whose web-sites you visit. One of many things that I find totally irresponsible about the W3C's actions is this choice of Adobe to provide the EME code; as Andreas Gal points out, Adobe have a dreadful reputation in the area of computer security, and have many times delivered code (mostly as part of Flash) which opened up users to hacking attacks; they are also nearly as notorious as Microsoft for collecting (usually secretly) about users, and of leaking that information. It is probably too late for objections to do any good; you may already have EME on your computer. If not, then you might consider turning off automatic updates, but that will probably mean that you can't access DRM material in future. You should certainly consider switching to Firefox, so that at least your identity remains secret (and use a proxy server when accessing sites that are DRM protected). Maybe the EFF's promise of continuing lawsuits on the matter will eventually yield results. |
Posted on 18th September 2017 |
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I recently found an excellent news piece about those 3% of scientific papers which seem to support the climate change deniers position that climate change is not real, and/or not caused by human activity. This report, on Quartz, cites a scientific review of those 3% of climate change studies (38 papers published in peer-reviewed journals in the last decade), and found that every single one had a flaw in their assumptions, methodology, or analysis, and when these errors were corrected, the revised results were in line with the findings of the other 97% of studies: that climate change is real, and is man-made. Some errors were simply mistakes, but some errors seem to have been due to deliberately selecting non-representative data, so that the results would support their desired and biased opinions. So, next time someone tries to use the argument that "the science is still not proven", you can throw this study in their faces. Climate change is real, and it is caused by people - you and me, and our pollution and energy waste. |
Posted on 14th September 2017 |
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I get a surprising number of emails from people who write "I hope your well". I know that what they mean is "I hope you're well", but it happens so often that it is starting to annoy me. ![]() Many of the people who write these emails are job agents; a profession with a lot of questionably educated people who often sound like London barrow-boys. A very large part of the agency workforce in the UK is now made up of Indians, for many of whom English is a second language, but the Indian agents do not write "I hope your well"; only the Brits. There are also a good number of other non-native English speaker nationalities in the agency, who also don't make this basic grammatical error. The latest person to send me such an email works for a "management company" (otherwise know as an umbrella company), who handle invoicing and payments for freelance contractors like me (you could call them money-launderers). To do such a job properly (i.e. to ensure that the law is being followed) one needs to be reasonable well educated, and be able to read and understand legalese, so it would be reasonable to expect that they could write grammatically correct English, but apparently this is not universally true. I think that, in future, I might respond with "Thanks. My well is fine. Here is a photo of it." |
Posted on 13th September 2017 |
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There have been many arguments used, by both sides of the debate about the right to bear arms in the USA, but this story on the BBC news really clinches the argument for banning people from carrying guns. ![]() In this case, Katie Quackenbush (photo to the right) got into a row with a homeless man who was trying to sleep on the pavement, about the loud music from her car (unlike the BBC, I fail to see how the make of car is relevant). He asked her to move her car, and in response she got out her gun and fired two "warning" shots with her eyes closed, critically injuring the man, who was taken to hospital. So let's break that down:
Gun-carry apologists often claim that they are responsible and usually trained in the use of firearms, and that the carrying of guns increases public safety. Those arguments are anyway questionable, but particularly in this case, are obviously not true. Katie Quackenbush is clearly too stupid, too afraid of guns, and too prone to inappropriate escalation, to be allowed to carry a butter knife, let alone a gun! |
Posted on 26th August 2017 |
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It seems that the UK Home Office has gone deportation-crazy in the last few months, as described in this piece from the Financial Times. It first came to my attention with the story about Eva Johanna Holmberg, a Finn who specialises in early modern British history, studying at Queen Mary College, University of London, who posted details of her deportation warning last week. The warning stated that a decision had been taken to remove her from the UK in accordance with section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. It turns out that the Home Office sent out about 100 such letters "in error", including to Dr. Leonardo Fasano (whose case is described in this BBC news article), who moved to the UK two years ago from Taranto, Italy, and last week received a letter from the Home Office informing him he had one month to leave. Then, this morning, I read (here, on the BBC) about Irene Clennell, who has finally been allowed to return to the UK to be reunited with her husband of 27 years, after being deported in February this year. She was deported despite her long-term marriage to a British citizen, having lived in the UK for 30 years, being the main carer for her sick husband, and the two children and one grandchild she has living in the UK. It seems that most of these cases are just due to clerical error. Irene Clennell's case, however, is a different matter. The Home Office has a bizarre rule that visa applications (at least for her type of visa) must be applied for from outside of the country (the UK is not alone in this - I experienced the same bureaucratic nonsense in Indonesia). That means that if you enter the UK on a visitor's visa, and then decide to stay (for example because you married a Brit), you have to leave, apply for a visa, and re-enter once you have your visa; this is something that not all people can afford. It is high-time that this rule was relaxed, by defining some standard exemptions. I hope that someone sues the Home Office for the stress that they have caused to these victims of their callousness and carelessness. |
Posted on 25th August 2017 |
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As reported here, by the BBC,, there is some debate as to whether President Trump might pardon former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio in a tweet. To be fair, the president has given no indication that he intends to use Twitter to pardon Joe Arpaio, but has made it clear that a pardon (in some form) is likely. As most people must be aware by now, Donald Trump uses Twitter a lot, bypassing his advisors and speech writers to share his views on all manner of topics in tweets. The idea of issuing a presidential pardon in a tweet, however, is shocking and incredibly stupid. Many famous people and corporations have had their twitter accounts hacked for a wide range of reasons; twitter is simply not secure enough for such serious content as a pardon. If the Donald establishes a precedent that pardons by Twitter are acceptable, and have legal recognition, I foresee a string of hacks, so that people can pardon themselves (or others whom they support) via the president's Twitter account. That will be a dark day. |
Posted on 21st August 2016 |
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I really do not understand the pizza restaurant described in this BBC report. They hung a stuffed cow (a real cow stuffed by a taxidermist) from the ceiling, above the tables, in their restaurant, which is designed to look like a slaughterhouse with glass walls. The owners of the restaurant tried vainly to claim the moral high-ground, by claiming that the cow makes diners think about "the realities" of consuming meat, and "true consequence of consuming dairy". I could understand this if the restaurant was a vegan establishment, but, as the new article points out, they serve meat and dairy products, and so are enabling the slaughter of animals to supply meat and dairy items. Unsurprisingly, visitors and diners are offended, even disgusted, by the display, |
Posted on 18th August 2017 |
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There have been more than enough news reports about what President Donald Trump did and didn't say about the violence in Charlottesville, and when. Here are some, in case you have been off-planet for the last week:
Various comedy TV shows have also been having a field-day with the issue: Irrespective of where you stand on the various issues (Confederate statues, the Confederate flag, White Supremacists, Nazis, protest violence, President Trump being and ignorant lying SOB, etc.), there is one aspect of this debacle that is totally bemusing: that the Donald keeps giving speeches, answering reporters' questions, and tweeting on the matter, and by doing so, gets himself into even more hot water. Clearly, he doesn't listen to his advisors, and ignores the speeches that are written for him. Apparently he also doesn't believe in the old adage that, when you are in a hole, stop digging. |
Posted on 18th August 2017 |
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This report on the BBC is rather worrying. A US web-host service provider, DreamHost, is embroiled in a battle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over a request for all the IP addresses of people (about 1.3 million of them) who accessed a web-site that helped organise a protest on the day of President Trump's inauguration. DreamHost is currently refusing to provide the data, and the dispute is due to be heard in court later this month. Regulations have already been changed to allow ISPs and other web-service providers (like Google) to sell the data on what web-sites you visit (if they choose to, but so far no-one has chosen to do this). Now the government wants that data too (presumably without even paying for it). This is all rather bizarre, given that the US constitution gives people the right to free speech, which is normally considered to include the right to protest (peacefully). It seems that the world described in George Orwell's "1984" is coming to pass (albeit more than 30 years behind schedule); if you have never read this book, now seems to be a good time. If you don't already use one, now might be a good time to investigate the use of a VPN or a public proxy server to hide your web-activity; a service that is based outside of the USA, otherwise the US government will be able to force the VPN or proxy service provider to hand over data on your browsing habits. Also, you should get in the habit of using HTTPS (secure HTTP) when you visit web-sites; most major web-sites are available over HTTPS (this site is available over HTTPS, and many sites automatically redirect you to HTTPS if you visit using non-secure HTTP). Since I live in Germany, where data protection and privacy laws are strong and well enforced, I don't currently have many worries about my Internet usage data being sold or handed over to some government, but nevertheless I use a proxy for some of my traffic. Readers in the USA (and the UK) are much more exposed, and you need to protect yourselves. |
Posted on 18th August 2017 |
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I recently read two news stories that show completely opposing attitudes to conservation and the environment. This report on the BBC describes how British Columbia (a Canadian Province) has announced that this season will be the last for trophy hunters; starting next season, it will be illegal. This video report, on the BBC, is about bear hunting in Alaska, where hunters can now shoot and bait bear cubs and hibernating bears on national wildlife refuges, after President Trump abolished protections put in place by Barack Obama. Don't get me wrong; I am not one of those bleeding-heart conservationists: I have no issue with hunting, as long as it is done humanely, and wild populations are protected from over-hunting (I am sure that some readers will strongly disagree with me on this). What I do know, however, is that hunters generally frown on killing juveniles, killing mothers when they are with their cubs, hunting during the breeding season and using unsporting methods (this disapproval is reiterated in a statement from the lady hunter in the video report above). I simply do not understand why President Trump decided to abolish the protection measures for bears in national wildlife refuges. The hunters seem not to want these extra freedoms, which allow them to hunt in unfair, cruel and immoral ways, and this abolition is moving in the opposite direction to their neighbours in Canada (renowned for their moral and environmental sense), who are adding protection to bears. It is pretty clear that Donald Trump is not a hunter, and apparently didn't ask any hunters for their opinions before abolishing the existing protection measures. I guess he just hates bears, or maybe he simply hates any regulations implemented by Obama. |
Posted on 6th August 2017 |
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This video report from the BBC, from a few weeks ago, in which a Minneapolis police officer shoots two dogs, raises many concerns about policing in the USA. The sound of the body-cam was bizarrely not working (or has been censored) until after the shots were fired, which makes it impossible to substantiate the officer's claims that the dogs growled at him; it would not be surprising for dogs to protect their territory by at least growling, but the videos (both the officer's body-cam and the dog-owner's security CCTV) clearly show the dogs wagging their tails. The officer then tells his partner, over the radio, that he has "dispatched" (which means "killed") both of the dogs. When his colleague then says that at least one dog is still alive, he says "I know. I know." To become a US citizen, one needs to pass a test of one's English; apparently the same is not true to become a Minneapolis police officer. To finish off this odd series of events, the offending officer then exits the back yard where the shooting occurred by climbing over the fence, as if he was hoping that his presence would not have been noticed. Later, in more conventional policing, the office knocks (or rings) at the front door, to be greeted by the dogs' distraught owner (who complains of having blood all over the house) and tells her that he "loves dogs". If he loves dogs, how is it that he can't tell the difference between an aggressive and a friendly/curious beast. All this happened because the woman entered the wrong security code on her house alarm. At least, both the dogs survived, but maybe the next time they see a police officer, they will attack first and ask questions later; the responsibility for any such attack will rest at least partly on this trigger-happy officer. At least it is good to have evidence that the US police are not prejudiced: they don't just shoot unarmed black teenagers; they also shoot dogs, black and white! Maybe, just maybe, there is a connection between this incident and the misunderstanding highlighted in this post. |
Posted on 6th August 2017 |
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This report from the BBC makes a good case that cleaner cars are not the answer to our problems with environmental problems. We need to reduce the number of cars. The report describes a study by Professor Kelly, of the UK's Royal College of Physician, which points out that even electric cars produce significant quantities of particulate matter (PM) pollution, from their brakes and tyres, with major health impacts. The UK government's recently announced plan to outlaw the sale of all new non-electric cars by 2040 will help reduce PM pollution from diesel vehicles, but do nothing about these other sources of PMs. The environmental benefits of electric vehicles are anyway questionable, at best. Electricity is not a pollution-free source of electricity, but only pollution-elsewhere. Admittedly the centralised and bulk production of electricity in power stations is more efficient and lower-pollution than burning fossil fuels in the mini-power-stations of car engines, but there are huge inefficiencies in the storage and later recovery of that electricity from batteries, and more inefficiencies in hauling the heavy battery packs (a 70 kWh Tesla Model S battery pack weighs over 1,000 lbs [~453 kg]) around in the vehicles. Add to that the pollution from producing and later disposing of the batteries themselves, based, as they are, on highly toxic metals. That same 70 kWh Tesla Model S battery pack contains significant quantities of Cobalt, plus Aluminium and Nickel. Batteries from other manufacturers contain lots of Manganese. There is a nice breakdown of the contents of high-tech batteries here. I guess that Professor Kelly is right: we really are going to have to learn to live without our precious cars. |
Posted on 3rd August 2017 |
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Two recent articles (this one on Business Insider, and this one on Mashable) report on some rather disloyal statements by Zo, Microsoft's AI Chatbot. Zo disses not only Windows 10, but Windows 8, and the whole Windows family of operating systems in general. In the Mashable report, Zo is reported as saying:
The Business Insider piece describes how Zo:
Personally, I agree with most of what Zo said about the relative merits of the different versions of Windows and Linux, but I wouldn't expect to hear these opinions from a Microsoft Chatbot. Is it Microsoft that we should be worried about, or AI? Here are some of the issues that I have with Windows:
I simply cannot afford for my PC to be unavailable due to the whims of software updates. That is why I use Linux for most things; it boots very fast, and starts all the services at boot time, and updates are under the complete control of the user/system-administrator (plus, of course, it is free). If I need to use applications which are only available on Windows, such as MS-Office, I use one of my Virtual Machines, running either Windows 7 or XP. For some functions, my Windows Virtual Machines are actually faster than if they were running on a real physical PC. Windows has never been good, only tolerable (for some versions) at best. I don't really understand why Microsoft still has such a dominance in the operating system business. Isn't it time you considered switching to Linux (or a Mac, which runs a relabelled version of Linux)? |
Posted on 24th November 2017 |
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Microsoft continues to disappoint me, and to cause me problems. My laptop runs Linux (Ubuntu), and I have a Virtual Machine running Windows 7. I can boot up Linux, run the two commands that set-up the internal networking for my Virtual Machine, start the VM, login to Windows, and be able to use it, in less time than it takes to boot and login to my work laptop (provided by the customer), which runs Windows 10 in native mode. That kind of performance is pathetic. Some of the performance issues are due to my own laptop being a more powerful model; some are due to Windows 10 being slower than Windows 7; some are because Linux has better resource management (especially virtual memory management); and some are because a VM running under Linux utilises Linux device drivers to access the display, disk and USB devices, which are much faster than native Windows device drivers. A few days ago, I installed some updates on my Windows VM. There was a list of about 20 updates, and I chose to install only 2. The update failed, and I was offered the option of trying again. When I opted to try again, all 20 updates were installed (my selection of desired updates was forgotten). Thank you so much, Microsoft! Also, recently, I was in a training session, and our trainer tried to search for something in Eclipse (an IDE – a software development tool) on his work laptop (also Windows 10). After about 1 minute, he cancelled the search because it was taking too long (estimated time to complete the search was more than 5 minutes). I then ran the same search over the same set of files, in Eclipse running on Linux, and had full results in about 1 second! I just tried to use my Windows 10 work laptop, which I had locked. Instead of opening my user session, it decided to reboot, because of software updates. Now I have to reopen everything that I was working on. Linux always asks you before installing updates; if the update fails, it shows you the selection form again, so that you can ensure that you install only those which you want. Software for Linux is mostly free, and continues to get better and better. Many of these free programs are also available for Windows, and sometimes even for Mac (GIMP for image editing; Filezilla for FTP; Deluge Torrent client; Bluefish for editing program files; LibreOffice for presentations, spreadsheets, and documents; ProjectLibre for project planning; to name but a few), but they usually run much faster on Linux than on Windows. Other programmes are only available for Linux, and equivalents for Windows are not free. All this means that I can do almost everything that I need on Linux (faster and for free). There is a very short list of things that I cannot do on Linux: Outlook (I have never found an email/calendar/contacts program that compares with it, although more recent versions are not as good as Outlook 2010, and Thunderbird is getting better with every release); some MS-Word and MS-PowerPoint files do not always display properly in LibreOffice (problems with auto-numbering, headers/footers and font-sizing), but with every update LibreOffice gets better; I cannot easily connect to WebEx (a web-conferencing tool from Cisco) from a Linux browser unless I install a special version of Firefox; and I cannot connect a web-cam to my Windows VM (e.g. to Skype or WebEx) because the bandwidth needed is too great for the VM environment to handle. The time is fast coming when these few limitations will all be resolved, and there will be no reason to use Microsoft products at all. Watch-out, Microsoft: your dominance of the desktop is coming to an end, and not before time. I do not understand why most businesses continue to put Windows on the desktops and laptops of their staff, given the system administration overhead, user frustration and loss of productivity that this decision entails. There are alternatives: if your users really need access to Microsoft tools, there are XenApp and XenDesktop, which allow you to access Microsoft applications remotely, and cloud-based equivalents, and most users only need Microsoft tools part of the time (allowing companies to save on software licensing costs); many users do not need Microsoft applications at all, and can do everything they need using alternatives on Linux (usually free) or Mac. |
Posted on 3rd August 2017 |
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I just had to laugh when I read this BBC story a few weeks ago, about Rapper ScHoolboy Q getting upset with United Airlines for losing his dog. Whoever wrote the piece obviously doesn't understand rapper-speak. The article says 'Pets are clearly important to the artist. One of ScHoolboy Q's lyrics in the song Take the Pain Away reads: "Only thing I got is my girl and my dogs."' As far as I know, the phrase "my dogs" refers to his crew (his homies, his boys, his gang), not his 4 legged friends. You apparently just can't get good journalists nowadays! |
Posted on 2nd August 2017 |
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There were two stories on the BBC today about VPNs:
I can understand both these decisions. Russia wants to enforce their bans on illegal web-sites, such as those on the dark-web which sell drugs and weapons. Apple needs to keep the Chinese happy, otherwise their business in China (manufacturing iPhones, and the sales of Apple devices in the Chinese market) will be interfered with, as has happened in the past. These, however, are not the only crackdowns against VPNs. Streaming services like Netflix have been making it more and more difficult to bypass their regional controls (designed to ensure that material can only be accessed in countries where they hold a licence to sell it) by blocking access to their services from known public VPN services. Governments around the world have also been strongly making the case for having access to encrypted Internet traffic (most business operated VPNs are encrypted) to help prevent terrorist attacks. A VPN is a Virtual Private Network: a logical (i.e. not physical) network to seamlessly connect computers as if they were physically connected. The access to VPNs is usually controlled (with a user-id and password, and sometimes with more complex access controls) and many are encrypted to keep their traffic secure. In this respect they differ from the public proxy servers, widely available, that you can also use to keep your Internet traffic secure. Many of you may not care very much about the trend to ban the use of VPNs, but if VPNs become widely banned, it will effect all of us. Most readers may not have been exposed to the legitimate use of VPNs, and believe that they are only used to access illicit web-sites and to view copyrighted streamed content which is otherwise not available where they live, but VPNs are widely used in industry, and are essential to the business which use them. VPNs are the usual means to allow remote access to IT systems (email servers, file servers, databases and a host of collaboration tools). I used to work for a company which had VPN access (one of many jobs where I used VPNs, actually). From home I could connect to all the systems that I would use when in the office, via their VPN. I could then use that VPN to connect to another VPN, providing me access to a customer's systems in another country, enabling me to perform software installations, diagnose and repair faults, and other system administration and support tasks. Without the VPNs, I would have had to go to the office and/or to the customer's site for all such tasks. Since I frequently received work phone calls in the middle of the night, that would have been very inconvenient, and would have vastly increased the cost and the time to complete otherwise simple tasks, if I had had no VPN to use. Most companies having offices or factories in multiple locations operate at least one VPN. Siemens is an example. Siemens staff can access IT resources at their home office when they are on secondment to another site, and even make phone calls over the VPN to other offices, and make calls at local rates to suppliers, friends and family over the VPN. Given the attempts by governments to access mails on public email services (see here) and the tapping of Internet traffic, you can understand why companies want to use their own email servers, and have their employees access the servers via a secure VPN. I run a Linux server at home (where this web-site is hosted), meaning that I have free software enabling me to set up a public VPN or even a proxy server. I am starting to wonder whether I should do so, as a statement of my objection to the trend to outlawing VPNs. |
Posted on 1st August 2017 |
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This report on the BBC really highlights what is wrong in Pakistan. A 12-year-old girl was raped, and "a jirga [village council] [...] ordered the rape of a 16-year-old girl [a member of the original rapist's family] as punishment". The police have, at least, now registered a complaint against 25 people for this outrageous act. This kind of failure of the rule of law is endemic in Pakistan. There are attacks and murders on the street for supposed acts of blasphemy, there are lawless areas in the north ruled by the Taliban or by local tribal leaders. There was the murder of 141 people, 132 of them children, at an army-run school in Peshawar, in 2014. There are constant accusations of official Pakistani support of terrorism in Kashmir. A very good friend of mine worked for 6 months in Pakistan, and tells me that it is a wonderful place, and the people are very friendly, but the fact remains that it is a dangerous place to be, both for locals and visitors; this danger is limiting the amount of foreign investment, and the amount of international trade, and impacting the lives of Pakistani citizens. The economy will never really climb out of the hole it is in, until this problem is fixed. |
Posted on 29th May 2018 |
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This news on TheOutline.com is very worrying. A country, so far unidentified, in South East Asia, is releasing large quantities of CFC-11 into the atmosphere. CFCs were responsible for the hole in the ozone layer over the antarctic, but after the 1987 Montreal Protocol, the use of CFCs has bee greatly reduced, and recent news indicated that the ozone hole had begun to close. Now, it seems, that small improvement in the health of our planet is being undone. CFCs, which were once widely used in refrigerators, are a highly reactive class of chemicals which last a long time in the atmosphere. They convert ozone in the upper atmosphere, which protects the surface from UV radiation, to oxygen. They are also very strong greenhouse gases, thousands of times more potent than CO2. This massive release of CFC-11 means that we should expect skin cancer risk in Australia and New Zealand to remain high, or even increase. It also means that global warming will be even harder to limit. One take away from this is how ineffective these voluntary international agreements (e.g. the Montreal Protocol and the 2016 Paris Climate Accord). Such agreements lack any enforcement mechanisms, so even if the culprit country is discovered, there will be no simple way to stop the releases or to punish them. It does not bode well for the success of the Paris Climate Accord, and more importantly, our future. |
Posted on 26th July 2018 |
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This report on the BBC should not be so surprising. The article warns that, even if you put your plastic waste into the appropriate recycling bin, it may not actually be recycled, but rather become landfill. ![]() The problem is that there is now a roaring trade in waste, with much of our garbage being sent to other countries for processing. The simple act of exporting waste takes it out of sight of the authorities, and we don't know for sure what happens to it. You might have been thinking that, although you can't control what other countries do about recycling, at least you and your country are doing the right thing; it turns out that you may also be part of the problem. The thing is, recycling is only part of the solution, and really only a stopgap. What we really need to do is reduce the amount of plastic packaging, and indeed packaging in general. I am constantly amazed by the amount of packaging used in parcels, e.g. when ordering goods online. I recently bought a computer monitor. It came in a box. The company from whom I bought it had put that box in another box (totally unnecessary). There was the usual huge quantity of shock-absorbing plastic padding in both boxes, even though paper alternatives are available which are adequate for the task. Supermarkets are just as bad. So much is packaged in plastic. Most fresh fruit and vegetables are actually better in paper or cardboard, and some need no packaging at all. Glass jars with metal lids are suitable for yoghurt, cream, etc, and metal cans are suitable for coffee and loads of other stuff; jars and cans are fully recyclable. We need to push back on the supermarkets about using responsible packaging. Jars and cans may be more expensive to use, but only because the true cost of plastics (i.e. including the pollution/clean-up costs) is not being paid. Today I saw a photo of oranges, shown to the right, which were peeled (peel is the oranges' natural packaging) and then placed in transparent plastic tubs. This is just so wrong! Some of the worst offenders are cosmetics and personal hygiene manufacturers. I have seen spray bottles with double containers (a jar within a jar, with a huge air gap in between). I have seen all sorts of bizarre shapes of container, which maximise the space taken up, the material used for the packaging, and minimise the volume of contents. If you care about the environment, it is time to vote with your wallet: tell the companies you buy from that, if they want to keep your business, they need to package more responsibly. |
Posted on 1st August 2017 |
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This story from the BBC has me worried. The US House of Representatives has voted to impose more sanctions against Russia, although it still needs to be passed by the Senate, and signed by the President (rumours are that he will sign the bill if passed by both houses of Congress). The EU is concerned about the impact on future energy supplies from Russia, and the negative effects on EU firms involved on building the necessary pipelines and other infrastructure. The new sanctions will limit or completely block access to US banking services for those firms, and could also lose them future business in the USA. As a result, the EU Commission (President Jean-Claude Juncker) has warned that if such negative side-effects hit EU business or EU energy security, the EU will retaliate. Jean-Claude Juncker did say that "The EU is fully committed to the Russia sanctions regime", but that means UN sanctions, and not "unilateral" actions by the US or others. Any retaliation by the EU will likely involve sanctions against US businesses, and will probably lead to an escalating tit-for-tat sanctions war. So much for any "special relationship". This would have huge fall-out in the EU, The USA, and indeed all across the world; it could trigger the next global financial crisis, plunging the world into a recession. Just for a change, this crisis was not cause by President Donald Trump, but by the US Congress acting on their own initiative; The Donald is trying to build better relations with Russia, which may or may not be a good thing. |
Posted on 31st July 2017 |
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I am completely gob-smacked by the situation these three drivers (Julian Wilson, David Bentley and Adrian Harrold. as reported by the BBC) are in. It seems that the trio were taking part in the Cannon Run, a road rally across several European countries, and were arrested on the 4th June for "minor motoring offences". They are still in custody, and have so far not been charged. At least one of the cars has been confiscated. How is it even legal for them to still be in custody without charge, whatever the offences they are suspected of, after 8 weeks? In most western countries, police have a limit on how long they can hold someone without charge: 48 hours is a typical limit, except in the case of terrorism offences, where they may usually be held longer (but even so, not usually for 8 weeks). In most civilised places, even murderers are treated better! I have always thought that Switzerland was a country with a well developed law enforcement system, and where people's rights were well protected. It seems, however, that this is not really the case. In the UK, a lawyer would have long since secured the release of the suspects. Since the UK Foreign Office is providing assistance to the three drivers, I must assume that they do have a lawyer, meaning that the problem must lie with the suspects' right under Swiss Law. |
Posted on 31st July 2017 |
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This story, carried by the BBC, bears the scare-headline "Sperm count drop 'could make humans extinct'". This is the opinion of Dr. Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Not only is the idea that the human race faces the threat of extinction due to reductions in sperm-counts laughable, and ignores some basic science, but such a pronouncement is downright irresponsible given a world population of around 7 billion and growing. Overpopulation is what is causing global warming, the build-up of toxic chemicals in our environment, and by extension is at least partly responsible for the reduced sperm-counts detected by this research. Encouraging people to reproduce more, which is the most likely result of such new stories, is the last thing we need right now. The reason why I think that this extinction threat is laughable, is because:
I really don't think that reduced human fertility poses an extinction threat; I actually see it as a benefit, because the world desperately needs a lower human population. We have other greater and more immediate threats to the continuance of the human race to worry about. If Dr. Levine really believes what he has stated, then he needs to back it up with more research and facts, as any real scientist would. Such unfounded speculation has no place in science, and he should be ashamed. |
Posted on 28th July 2017 |
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This story from the BBC got me really angry: angry at the people who killed the shark, and angry at the BBC journalist who seems to know absolutely nothing about sharks. The people in the boat claim that the shark was already dead when they found it floating in the water, and so they decided to use is as bait to fish for another shark. This is clearly a lie, since sharks do not float when dead; unlike bony fish, sharks have no swim bladder to control their buoyancy, and must swim to keep afloat. When sharks die, or when their fins are harvested for sharks fin, they always sink to the bottom of the ocean. The other claim that is an obvious lie is that they were dragging the shark behind their boat, using it as bait to catch another shark; the dead shark was simply too big to use as bait (unless they were trying to catch Jaws) and the boat was going too fast for a shark to be able to take the bait. I had expected that the journalist assigned to cover this story would know some basic facts about sharks, and be able to pint this out in the short text accompanying the video report, but I guess I was being overoptimistic. Given that many species of shark are now endangered, this kind of pointless cruelty and needless slaughter should not be tolerated. I hope that the investigation results in the "fishermen" being prosecuted. |
Posted on 23rd August 2015 |
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The statement by Twitter, as reported in this piece by the BBC makes no sense whatsoever. Donald Trump tweeted a threat to destroy North Korea, which is in direct violation of Twitter's terms of use, which forbid violent threats. Many people argued that the tweet should be removed, but the company argues that items which are newsworthy are exempt. Leaving aside the rather suspect statement by Twitter that "This [allowing tweets which breach their terms of use, if they are newsworthy] has long been internal policy and we'll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it", which seems to me as if they only just thought of this exemption, are they seriously saying that a terrorist threat which is explicit (e.g. against a specific target) is not newsworthy? I beg to differ: if my home, place of work, or the public transport service that I use are threatened, then I consider that information to be newsworthy. I really don't see the distinction between Donald Trump's tweet and a tweet by IS threatening me or my surroundings. The real issue here is that The Donald is someone famous and a member of the establishment, whereas IS, although famous (infamous), is not part of the establishment, which calls into question Twitter’s statement that "We hold all accounts to the same rules ...". Well, I suppose that if Twitter really wants to be seen as biased, and a Trump supporter, that is their choice, but could we maybe cut the bullshit? |
Posted on 2nd May 2017 |
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Today's big news, widely expected, is that the USA has decided to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, as reported here by the BBC. This makes the USA a rogue state. This action is at least as bad as other nations, such as North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Syria, labelled as rogue states for creating weapons of mass destruction. They /the USA) have decided to continue full-speed ahead on the path to destruction of the world as we know it, and any solution will have to be implemented by the rest of the world. What I find bizarre is the widely reported statement from US Republicans, intended to be understood as an excuse, that "the US coal industry backed the move [to withdraw from the Paris climate accord]". Who in their right mind would ask poachers whether the gamekeeper should be fired? The coal industry is part of the problem, and I am not even slightly interested in their opinions on what we should do. The situation now, with the only the USA and two other nations (Nicaragua and Syria) not being part of the climate accord, is akin to a bunch of people being in a lifeboat miles from land. Some people have water or food, but some have more than others; the best survival strategy is for everyone to share what they have. The American in the lifeboat, however, will not share, because he believes he is more important than the others. The fly in the ointment is that the lifeboat has a leak, and only with everyone bailing can the boat stay afloat; once the first person dies from lack of water or food, everyone will drown, even the "important" American who won't share his supplies. This is the kind of stupidity that convinces me that groups of humans do not qualify as intelligent. I do not understand where this arrogant and self-centred American attitude comes from. It is not as if the USA is immune from the effects of global warming. They already have problems with extreme weather: more tornadoes, more lightning strikes, more floods, more heat-waves, more droughts, more water shortages and more wildfires. There are invasive species and diseases (such as zika). There are many extinctions (for an example, see this article in Field & Stream) and loss of habitats. The USA has derogated their responsibility as the leader of the free world; it is now time for someone else to take up that mantle. Whoever that is to be, their first order of business should be to instigate sanctions against the USA, as a rogue state in the field of environmental protection. |
Posted on 2nd June 2017 |
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The BBC has been at it again, with more bad journalism, here. The word "Electrocution" means "death caused by electric shock". The report states that two boys were electrocuted, but they are still alive (although one is in critical condition) after receiving electric shocks on a railway line. I know that electrocution is often misused to mean non-fatal electric shock, but this misuse occurs mostly in the USA. I expect better use of English by the BBC, especially since they are not a US news company, and the events described occurred in the UK. If even Wikipedia, a US based information resource, can get the meaning right, then the BBC should be able to do at least as well. |
Posted on 18th May 2017 |
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There have been many reports over the last few days about the chaos caused by British Airway and their IT failure:
Very many types of business, in the modern world, are fully dependent upon IT systems to operate: banking, telecoms, air travel (not just airlines; also airports, air-traffic control, etc.), the full gamut of Internet based businesses, etc. Most of these companies seem to have understood how vital it is, for both them and their customers, to ensure that their systems are reliable and robust, but it seems that BA "didn't get the memo". Now, high reliability (usually call high availability) systems is something that I know quite a lot about, and the experts quoted by the BBC's Tech Tent are right: a power surge is no excuse, and power management is a vital part of any business critical system design. To put this into context for those readers who are not familiar with the subject matter, let me describe a typical disaster recovery plan:
Of course, none of this is any use if the fall-back systems and processes don't work, which seems to be the case here. When you spend millions on redundant systems and data-back-ups, you have to test that they work. You must test that, when a system or a whole site, fails, that the load is properly switched to other systems (and that you can put the system back into its normal operating mode once the fault is repaired). You must also test that the software and processes to restore data from back-ups actually work. It seems likely that BA failed to do this, since their systems stopped working. Of course, I do not know if BA simply failed to put in place a properly reliable set of systems and processes, or if they at least tried to do so, but failed to test that they worked properly in the event of failure. Either way, the outcome is simply unacceptable, and the impact on its customers was major and intolerable. This simply cements BA's position as one of the world's worst airlines; one a cavalier and irresponsible attitude to their customers. BA's CEO said that the "flight disruption had nothing to do with cutting costs". I beg to differ. Clearly, not enough money was spent in building and testing the disaster recovery plan. |
Posted on 18th May 2017 |
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I wrote about two months ago about the ban on taking laptops as cabin baggage on flights to the USA from certain originating airports (here). Since then, apparently, the ban has also also applies to flights to the UK. Well, now there is more news on the topic. Here is a story from the BBC, which reports that, at a meeting between US and European officials, it was decided not to introduce a ban on laptops in the cabin for flights between the USA and Europe. The reason is described in more detail in this BBC report, which highlights the increased risk of fires remaining undetected if laptops are kept in the hold. The other thing that occurred to me is that keeping all the laptops in a special container in the hold is akin to deciding the keep all the sticks of dynamite together, rather than stowed separately. Whilst I see the latest developments as encouraging, I don't think the story is over yet. It wouldn't surprise me if, eventually, we simply won't be able to travel with our laptops at all, neither in the cabin nor in the hold. For me, that will, in many cases, take away the reason for travelling in the first place. |
Posted on 16th May 2017 |
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Dr. Lawal Harun, a surgeon in the UK, has been struck off (no longer allowed to practice medicine) after a litany of messed up surgeries. As detailed in this news report by the Telegraph, he:
The third case occurred after an investigation which recommended that he "be restricted in what operations he carried out". His excuse: he said he had been suffering from "poor vision" at the time. There are several things which concern me about this situation:
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Posted on 16th May 2017 |
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After reading this report from The Independent we should probably all be at least a little wary of travelling on public transport. The story reports on a recent study, in which swab tests were performed on public transport in London. It showed that 121 types of bacteria and mould were present; some were antibiotic resistant bacteria. The tube (underground train) system was by far the dirtiest, with the Victoria line the worst of the lot. I guess that we should not be surprised, as the tube system is an ideal incubation ground for bugs: warm and humid, with lots of places difficult to clean. It also confirms what we all really already know: that most people have poor hygiene. The history of human civilisation is one of growth, interrupted by periods of no growth or even falling population (e.g. during the black plague) when new or mutated diseases become dominant. Population only starts to grow again when advances in medicine (e.g. the discovery of penicillin or the invention of vaccines) or public hygiene (e.g. the introduction of flushing toilets, drinkable water piped to houses or the banning of public spitting) are made. We are currently reaching a new limit on population density due to disease; there is a continuing problem with influenza, as viruses (e.g. bird flu) keep mutating and causing outbreaks; we have had outbreaks of Ebola; we do not have malaria under control and its territory is spreading due to global warming; HIV affects millions around the world; recently there was widespread concern about the Zika virus; drug-resistant TB is a growing problem in some cities. As people travel more, people in the west are getting more exposed to tropical diseases like yellow fever and the like. Diseases which we thought were under control, or even close to eliminated, like measles and polio, are making a comeback due to the refusal by some people to vaccinate their children. The world is full of dangers. Maybe it is not such a good idea to shake people's hands, or kiss them on the cheek. Maybe, the next time that you notice that someone used the toilet and didn't wash their hands, you should say something. There is also a very dangerous habit in some countries. In most of Europe, if you are sick, your doctor will write you off of work, partly to give you a chance to recover properly, and partly to ensure that you don't return to work while you are still infectious, and infect your colleagues or customers. In the USA, people often return to work while still ill and infectious, because they can lose their jobs if they take too much time off for sickness. I would argue that there is an economic imperative to change this behaviour, by ensuring people do not run the risk of being fired due to sickness, and by providing universal healthcare (so that people can afford to go to the doctor). |
Posted on 18th May 2017 |
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This news story from the BBC highlights a problem that has bothered me for quite a while: much of our recycling, separated at home, ends up as landfill because of the mixture of materials in each article. Many items which we put into recycling bins are not able to be recycled, and are instead dumped into landfill sites, or (as with much of the garbage and recyclables in Munich) incinerated. Examples include:
On top of that, expanded polystyrene is still widely used in packaging, as trays for meat, and as shock-absorbing packing for fragile goods like PCs. Expanded polystyrene cannot be recycled, although many people seem ignorant of this and put it into the plastic recycling. There are perfectly adequate and cheap alternative materials for all these purposes (for example those sheets of plastic bubble-wrap). Another thing that came to light a few years ago is that much of the paper and cardboard which we recycle is put into landfill or incinerated, because the price for recycled paper is so low that it is often not financially viable to recycle it. I really think that industry needs to try harder to make sure that their packaging is easily recyclable. Clear instructions on the packaging about what it is (and thus which bin to put it in) would also be a great benefit, since many people have difficulty identifying what material some items are. |
Posted on 12th May 2017 |
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What a great job by the UK's competition watchdog (the Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA), as reported by this BBC news article! There are only two companies still in the business of providing pager services in the UK: Vodafone and Capita. Pagers are still used by hospital staff, and are therefore considered essential. Pagers are not making much money, because of the small market, so Vodafone wanted to sell their pager business to Capita. The CMA objected to the sale of Vodafone's pager business to Capita, because it would have created a monopoly, and blocked the sale. The result of their intervention: Vodafone have decided to close down their pager business, thus creating a monopoly anyway. The only impact of the CMA's intervention is that Vodafone has been prevented from making any money from the closing down of the pager operation. One has to wonder why the CMA continues to exist, given what poor service they deliver. I think I know why the CMA is so bad at their job, though: they are a monopoly! |
Posted on 12st May 2017 |
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The Australian Government is working hard to preserve their country's reputation as being the worst in the world on environmental issues. This BBC story describes how a collection of irreplaceable and valuable pressed flowers, loaned from France, was incinerated because of a problem with the paperwork. I fully understand that Australia (New Zealand too) needs to be careful about importing foreign species. Australia has huge problems with invasive species (some of which were introduced deliberately, in some cases in attempts to control other pests): Cane Toads, Goats, Rabbits, Red Foxes, etc. (more information about invasive species in Australia here). Clearly controls are needed. In this case, however:
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Posted on 10th May 2017 |
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This piece in The Guardian should be cause for concern for anyone who lives in the USA. The article describes the unprecedented number (more than 30 since the 8th of November 2016) of state laws introduced to crack down on protests. UN experts have called these laws “incompatible with US obligations under international human rights law”. The USA is famous for its 1st Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right to free speech. Now, that right is being severely limited when exercised via organised protests. It occurs to me that this is in some way opposite to Christian principles. In the New Testament, Jesus is reported as saying "Whenever two or three people are gathered together in my name, I will be with you": you can only commune with God in organised groups. Under these new ant-protest laws, you can only exercise your right to free speech (in the states which have such laws - more than half, it seems) if you do not do so in an organised group. Since these new laws about protests are being promulgated by Republicans, who by and large purport to be Christian, I detect a whiff of hypocrisy in their position. |
Posted on 5th May 2017 |
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I totally agree with the Florida judge in the case reported here, by the BBC. "Reality TV star Hencha Voigt and former boyfriend, Wesley Victor, are accused of threatening to release explicit images of social media star Julieanna Goddard unless she paid a ransom." Their iPhones are suspected not only to contain the material used for the blackmail, but were used in the commission of that blackmail (to send the blackmailing messages). As such they are material evidence in the case. The accused have pleaded the 5th Amendment (the right to refuse to incriminate themselves), but the judge is having none of it, and has ordered them to divulge their passwords. "For me, this is like turning over a key to a safety deposit box," he said on Wednesday. Good for him! If he had let the 5th Amendment defence stand, it would have weakened the rights of law enforcement to seize evidence of all kinds: safes, bank account statements, documents, etc. which would have put law enforcement on a slippery slope. Just to be clear, cases like this are not the same as US customs and immigration demanding to search phones and laptops when people are entering the USA. Searches at borders are not based on any evidence nor related to any law enforcement cases, and are therefore totally unjust. |
Posted on 5th May 2017 |
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There is really rather a lot in this BBC news report that is shocking, worrying or just downright confusing. It turns out that surprisingly large numbers of people are arrested in the USA every year under material witness warrants, because the police want them to give evidence against someone, and are concerned that they may not turn up at court to do so, if not forced. In just one parish, Orleans Parish, there were at least 30 cases last year in which material witness warrants were issued; this is according to a local non-profit justice watchdog, Court Watch NOLA, because the District Attorneys (prosecutors) office does not keep records of these warrants. We are not talking about just one night in jail, as typically people held under these warrants are held for days. This seems excessive. In the aftermath of 9/11 material witness warrants were used as a way to detain suspects without "probable cause": at least 70 men were held as material witnesses in the aftermath of the attacks while the Justice Department looked for evidence; a third of them were in prison for more than two months, some for more than six months, and one witness detainee spent more than a year in prison. What makes this situation even more scary is that people detained under material witness warrants do not have the usual "Miranda" rights: e.g. the right to a phone call, a lawyer (or a public defender) and the right to a prompt appearance before a judge. In the example case with which the news story leads, Marc Mitchell was arrested without being given a reason or charge on which he was being arrested. This is something that I thought people had a legal right to be told, but maybe I am wrong. If they don't have such a right, then they should have. Another thing that concerns me is the embarrassment that the police cause to the people whom they arrest under these warrants, partly because they do not even seem to know why they are arresting these people. Marc Mitchell could easily have lost his job, after being taken away in handcuffs in front of his colleagues and customers. I hope that he has the sense to sue for the damage to his reputation. The icing on the cake is that these material witnesses are then usually incarcerated in the same jails as the people against whom they are to give evidence, putting them and their families in danger of retaliation and blackmail. What really surprises me is that it seems that, under US law, witnesses have no legal right to refuse to testify if it puts their life in danger. The USA has the 5th Amendment to The Constitution, giving witnesses and defendants the right to refuse to incriminate themselves, but no right to refuse to ensure their safety. I strongly feel that this is a right that is needed, and that probably an additional constitutional amendment is urgently called for. |
Posted on 20th April 2017 |
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This short video report on by the BBC gives a frightening summary of Donald Trump's less well noticed recent decisions in his continuing programme of removing government regulations in all areas of life and business in the USA:
It seems that Donald Trump and his band of idiot followers are intent on removing government regulation from everything that will ensure a safe life, ethical business practices, and protect the environment. |
Posted on 19th April 2017 |
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There has been more news about people being bumped off overbooked flights. This BBC news story describes how a couple going on vacation to Catania in Sicily were removed from an EasyJet flight from Luton, after boarding, due to overbooking, and told that the next EasyJet flight to their destination was in four days time. They were not told that they had a right to be rebooked onto another airline the same day at EasyJet's cost, and not offered compensation, in flagrant violation of EU rules. The couple had booked non-refundable accommodation for 6 nights, and decided to cancel their trip, despite the cost. That is what can happen if you fly without knowing your rights! In the other case, reported here by the BBC, a family tried to check in online, and were left with boarding passes for all members of the family except their 10 year old son. Clearly, leaving the 10 year old to find his way back home alone, and fend for himself for a week, was neither acceptable nor legal, so they travelled to two other airports, trying to find alternative flights; eventually they found flights from Montreal, spending an additional C$1,000 on the new flights. Since then, they have complained to Air Canada, and have been offered a C$2,500 voucher, along with an apology; I don't consider that anywhere near enough compensation. I know that many airlines have problems with online check-in of groups of people travelling together; I have had problems with this myself. Even if everyone in the party gets a seat, which is by no means guaranteed, separate check-in usually results in being seated apart, which is certainly not acceptable when young children, sick or disable passengers are involved. Online check-in is the best way to avoid being bumped from overbooked flights (apart from flying business or first class, which most of us cannot afford), but families and groups are often forced to check-in at the airport (i.e. last-minute) if they want to sit together. There is clearly something wrong with the computer systems and processes used by airlines, if it results in a child being left without a seat, and it needs to be fixed. The killer is that, typically, if the other members of a group choose not to fly because a member of the party cannot get a seat, the forego their right to compensation, since the contracts to fly are separate, and they are deemed to have "voluntarily" chosen not to fly. The airline business is a tough business to be in: many airline have been bailed out by governments, and most struggle to make a profit. Airlines have discretion about whether to offer compensation in some cases, but when it comes to compensation to which passengers are legally entitled, they need to stop sidestepping their obligations and pay up, without being asked or even threatened. My girlfriend almost always pays the small extra fee to have travel insurance, and that is probably a good idea. Insurance, however, will still not compensate travellers for many of the problems of families and other groups travelling together, because, again, the insurance contracts are separate for each traveller. We need our airlines to be more honest and responsible; if they won't, there will be more regulations to impose that honest and responsible behaviour on them. |
Posted on 17th April 2017 |
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This BBC report describes how a republican governor has resigned over a sex scandal. Alabama's governor, Robert Bentley, has quit over his relationship with an aide, after lawmakers began impeachment proceedings against him. I find the hypocrisy incredible, in that republicans campaign on the basis of family values, but are always getting into trouble for having sexual relations outside of their marriages. Infidelity is not uncommon in the modern world, but we hold our politicians to better standards of behaviour than ourselves. At what point will the hypocrisy of republicans result in people not voting for them? Do voters not actually care what their politicians do, compared to what they say they believe in? |
Posted on 17th April 2017 |
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This story on the BBC is both upsetting and worrying. A judge in Bradford in the UK, Jonathan Durham Hall QC, has been disciplined for offering to pay a victim surcharge penalty for a girl who admitted attacking a man who had sexually assaulted her when she was younger, after the judge imposed a two-year youth rehabilitation order. The judge is accused of failing to demonstrate "impartiality". It seems to me that the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice fail to understand the meaning of impartiality, and the role of a judge in balancing the requirements of both enforcing the law and ensuring justice. The girl has been censured and punished, and that is on her record. A judge has a degree of discretion in deciding sentence, but there are some things that are imposed as a matter of administrative procedure, such as the victim surcharge. If the judge decides that payment of this surcharge is not just, it is his right and his duty to offer to pay it. Failure to do so would have been a dereliction of his duty. If judges are prevented from exercising their discretion, or punished when they do, then we are no better off than if we had the science-fiction scenario of a robot judge who simply follows predefined rules. If we end up with that system, it will be a sorry day indeed. |
Posted on 17th April 2017 |
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There is industrial action in the UK due to the introduction of IR35 taxation rules for locum doctors, as reported here by the BBC. Doctors are threatening to refuse to work as locums because their work will now be covered by the new IR35 rules (for more explanation of IR35, click here). This does not even qualify as a strike in the normal sense of the word. Locums, like so many medical professionals, are not employees, but freelancers. If the pay and conditions are not good enough they are able to withdraw their labour largely without putting themselves in breach of contract. Medical authorities use locums when other staff are sick, on vacation, or there are staff shortages for other reasons such as bad management, usually with very short notice. Like all interim staff, they are expected to come ready trained, and work unsociable hours; they get no pay for vacations and public holidays, nor for training (they are expected to keep their knowledge and skills up to date on their own time). The can be "fired" (taken off the list of approved locums) with little or no notice. In exchange for that flexibility, they have a right to expect good pay rates. It is not only medical locums who object to IR35. All freelance contractors (like me) dislike it (here). I am now seeing more and more jobs advertised as being covered by IR35. It is part of a decades-long campaign to make life difficult and expensive for this important sector of the workforce, by increasing their tax burden, increasing bureaucracy, and imposing hypocritical and inconsistent regulations. Freelance contractors have long been required to be employees of a company, either their own company or an umbrella management company (many UK contractors opted to have their own company) and to pay tax and national insurance on the same basis as a permanent employee; but when their contact ends (as they do) and their employment is terminated (in the case of contractors with their own companies, they have to fire themselves) they find the government unwilling to pay unemployment benefit (the government argues that firing themselves is not valid); not much of an insurance for all those NI payments! Freelancers are an important wealth generating part of the workforce, and I do not understand why the government seems to hate us so. The bizarre thing is that the review of IR35 was one of the election promises of the current government. Well, you can't trust politicians, and certainly not their campaign promises! I have been contracting now for very many years. That means that I have invested a great deal of my time and money in being able to do an effective job. The last time I claimed any kind of unemployment benefit was when I was a student, during vacations. The last time I made use of national health service funding for medical costs was in the 1980s. The last time that anyone other than me paid for my training or eduction was in 1996. When I work, I work long hours; I "hit the ground running"; I am available for work at short notice; and although I earn good money, I have high costs (away from home accommodation, meals and travel) and frequently have gaps between jobs with no income. I pay tax and social insurance (e.g. NI), and for that I received absolutely no benefits. I am not unusual in this. Like all contractors who work in multiple countries, I always have to worry about the risks of double taxation (the inter-country agreements on no double taxation are a joke - see here for more details.) It is high time that governments around the world (it is not only the UK government that is at fault here) stopped treating us freelance contractors as cash-cows, realised the benefits that we provide to the economy, and treated us fairly! |
Posted on 16th April 2017 |
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I am gob-smacked by this BBC report, for a couple of reasons. Bonus payments are meant to be paid for good performance, and often referred to as profit-share bonuses, but Credit Suisse has made a loss for the last two years. So why do the bosses think that they deserve any bonuses at all, let alone 78m Swiss francs ($77m; £62m) shared between 12 executives? To me this seems to be corruption, pure and simple, and it should be stamped out. The other thing that occurs to me is that these executives knew that, at the upcoming shareholders meeting, their bonuses would be voted down by the owners of the company, and this announcement is a cynical attempt for them to retain some bonus payments, rather than to have the shareholders decree that they receive none at all, as they properly deserve. So why did the BBC journalist, whose name is not on the story, not think of this possibility, and spend some time investigating, and discuss it in the article? I expect better journalism from the BBC, and I am very disappointed. |
Posted on 16th April 2017 |
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I am very concerned about the news now percolating out about the crash of Rescue 116, which collided with Blackrock Island on 14 March. The latest report from the BBC (here) contains the very worrying information that Blackrock (an island which is well known because it has a lighthouse on it, and is therefore marked on all marine and air maps of the area) was not in the database of the obstacle-avoidance system installed on the helicopter. Many people are probably now thinking "How terrible!" and yes, it is really dreadful that such a well known and well mapped obstacle was not in the system's database, and I am sure that someone is rushing to roll out updates to the databases of all such systems, but that is not what worries me. What concerns me is that an obstacle-avoidance system apparently relies only on a database of known obstacles; there doesn't seem to be any integration of radar data into the system. Just look at the photo in the BBC report: the island is about the size of an aircraft carrier, and should be easily visible on radar from a long way off. Any useful obstacle-avoidance system should help to avoid not only fixed obstacles, but also mobile obstacles like ships and other aircraft. So, something is wrong: either the Irish coast-guard bought a cheap and nasty system which doesn't use radar data, or the radar was not working (either switched off, or not fit for purpose). I began my professional career in avionics, so I do have some idea what I am talking about. Either way, someone needs to be held accountable. In the meantime, I will not be volunteering to fly on any Irish coast-guard helicopters. |
Posted on 11th April 2017 |
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Social media is abuzz with this story (reported here by the BBC) of the doctor being forcibly assaulted and forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight awaiting departure from a Chicago airport on Sunday evening. The BBC report contains a shocking video of the man being dragged from the flight by three security personnel. He ended up with his face covered in blood (his own blood). United's only explanation seems to be that the flight was overbooked, so they were trying to get 4 volunteers to make space for 4 members of United staff who needed to fly in order to work the next day. There were not enough volunteers, so they picked the doctor and his wife; a doctor who also needed to fly in order to be at work the next day. To me, that reason does not constitute an excuse. I don't know how you see this, but I feel that getting a doctor to work is much more important than getting flight crew to work. If you don't fly frequently, you may not realise that overbooking is common. A certain number of people don't turn up for their flights, and to avoid empty seats the airline often overbooks, and that sometimes means that there are not enough seats on the flight (more information on overbooking here). United Airlines, however, is behaving as if the overbooking was something done to them by some third-party, whereas they did it to themselves. Normal procedure is that passengers are offered compensation for not flying on overbooked flights (another flight, meal vouchers, a paid overnight stay in a hotel, an additional flight at a later date, etc.). If there are no volunteers, the offer is usually improved until passengers do volunteer. It is not clear from the BBC report whether any compensation was offered, nor whether the offer was improved when there were not enough takers (or none at all). My take on this is as follows:
There is a lot of social media commentary, with many people suggesting not to fly United. To me, that is not news. I have flown them a few times, and they have always been rubbish: cramped seats, broken TV/audio systems and poor service (more attitude than service). When my girlfriend flies home to Chicago, she tries very hard to ensure that she flies with Lufthansa (difficult to ensure, since United is a code-share partner with Lufthansa); she pays exactly the same price for United as for Lufthansa, but the Lufthansa flight is much better all around. For me, United are in strong competition with British Airways to be the worst airline in the west (if you want to know what I have against BA, click here. I suggest that people vote with their wallets, and fly with any airline other than United, even if it costs more, or involves a more circuitous route. At the end of the day, people (and especially companies) only pay attention when it costs them money. I also hope that the grossly abused doctor sues them, and that criminal charges are also filed. |
Posted on 23rd March 2017 |
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I am guessing that pretty much everyone who travels for work, saw this report on the BBC, or the same news from some other source. Your initial reaction was probably the same as mine too: thank goodness I am not flying through any of those airports! It then got me thinking about one of those generic and vague promises in Donald Trump's election campaign: to "make America great again". How exactly will he achieve that when, to my perspective, the USA is no longer open for business with an important (i.e. rich) part of the world. Already we were being told that it was best to not take your smart-phone to the USA, as described here, since customs (or homeland security, or whoever) had the right to insist that you unlock it and let them peruse the contents (presumably the same rights extend to other devices like laptops and tablets). Now, however, we are being told that mobile devices will not be allowed into the cabin at all, for flights from certain airports, and we all know how slim the chances are that a laptop and tablet will survive a flight in the luggage hold (it will either be stolen or damaged beyond repair). Of course, the problem is that the list of airports is public, which means that terrorists can and will fly their laptop bombs from airports elsewhere, and the list will just keep getting larger. I don't want to list here all the reasons why people need to take their portable computing devices on aircraft, but I know why I do: it is usually a condition of contract that I bring my own laptop when I work as a freelancer, and I usually have work to do while on the flight or waiting at the airport. It is not a choice or convenience, it is mandated by my employer. If it becomes too difficult or expensive (I certainly cannot afford to replace my laptop after almost every trip) to travel to the USA for business, the people will eventually do business elsewhere, with someone else. It seems to me that the USA is no longer open for business; if that continues for any length of time, then the country which we have become used to as the world's largest economy, most influential diplomatic power, and most powerful military force, will become just a footnote in history. President Trump will go down in the history books as the president who not only eroded US democracy beyond recognition. but also the man who presided over the end of their being a world power. |
Posted on 17th March 2017 |
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According to this story on the BBC, the Pakistani government has asked FaceBook to help them to fight against blasphemy in content posted by Pakistanis on the social media website. Well, good luck with that! I have written before (here) about how ridiculous it is to try to legislate against blasphemy. It is equally ridiculous to try to censor social media on what is deemed by some to be blasphemous. True, Pakistan has an official religion: Islam. There are, however, many different flavours of Islam. Most people have heard of Shiites and the Sunnis, but Pakistan also has quite a few Sufis (technically not a sect; Sufism exists in both Shia and Sunni Islam), whose beliefs and practices are considered by some Muslims to be blasphemous, which has resulted in persecution from time to time, including recently. There are a number of other Muslim sects or denominations, some of whom are present in Pakistan. Each of these sects have differences in their beliefs, doctrines and practices; how then can the Pakistani government even define what blasphemy is? Then there is the question of democracy. Expressing and sharing opinions is part of the democratic process. Deciding whether blasphemy should be a crime, and what the definition of blasphemy is, is rather hard if you get arrested because your view on the matter is considered blasphemous. It seems that too many people are unable to think rationally on this subject, so maybe we should let them see what a world would be like if blasphemy were more generally illegal and the laws were enforceable. What about a World Blasphemy Week, during which blasphemy would be illegal in all jurisdictions (so that state prosecutors could file blasphemy charges against all and sundry), and people could also file civil suit on the matter. The Hindus, Buddhists, Shinto, Pagans/Wiccan, and other multi-theistic religions could fight in court with the mono-theistic religions like Christianity, Islam, Judaism about how many gods there are. The Roman Catholics could beat-out the issue of transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ during communion against the protestants. Then there is the issue of whether it is possible to have a personal relationship with your god (whichever god) or whether you need a priest or other anointed official to be an intermediary. We could all have such a grand fight about diet: Kosher, Halal, is it not OK to eat beef (as the Hindus believe) or are the Jains right about what we should eat (no meat or dairy, and nothing from below the ground). I think that after a week of such a free-for-all, we would all be firmly against laws and censorship about blasphemy (and anyone not able or willing to learn the lesson should perhaps be quietly locked in a padded cell in a mental hospital). |
Posted on 15th March 2017 |
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I found this new report by the BBC, about an ECJ (European Court of Justice) ruling on workplace headscarf bans to be a little odd. The court found that it is OK to ban religious symbols and clothing at the workplace, as long as the ban is applied equally to all religions, but not on the basis of "the wishes of a customer". The issue of customer perceptions and wishes seems to me to be the strongest reason for companies to institute such a ban. The caveat specified by the ECJ does say "the preferences of an individual customer", but what if there are multiple customers with the same preference: would that be an adequate reason for a ban? How many customers are enough? Also, how does a company determine the collective wishes of its customers: do they have to do a survey? I am really not sure that this ruling sets a useful precedent. Personally, I am not offended and do not feel threatened by people at work (colleagues or suppliers) wearing headscarves, yamakas, crucifixes, etc. I do not understand why some people are upset by such things. I have worked with people of many religions, in many countries, and sometimes the religious expression in clothing. jewellery and behaviour can be quite "in your face". I worked in Prague with a British Jew who only ate kosher food (widely available in Prague, but rather dry and boring, I found), and who flew home to England every Friday; he had to leave very early on Friday in order to be in his house before sundown (which is when the Sabbath starts). I worked in Jakarta, where most people are Muslim: it is impossible to have meetings at certain times of day because people are at prayers; there were prayers at lunchtime in the office (on the first floor, but usually overflowing into the reception, meaning that I had to leave for lunch via a back door, and visitors arriving during prayers couldn't get into the building). I have worked with people wearing headscarves, yamakas, crucifixes, leather wristbands (a Hindu religious tradition). I have worked with Sikhs, who are supposed to carry their kirpan (technically a small ceremonial sword, actually a knife) at all times (a bit of a problem when travelling by air nowadays). None of this is a problem, as far as I am concerned. What I am not so keen on is face-covering headgear such as the niqab (but even that I can live with, if necessary). I like to be able to see people's faces when I talk to them (to see the expressions, so that I know whether to believe them) and to recognise them. A much bigger issue for me is people who want to explain their religion to other people (colleagues and customers), and try to convert them. There are some people who wear religious items as a way to open conversations about their religion; that is not a problem with the items, but with their behaviour, and I see no reason why this problem should be addressed by banning the clothing, jewellery, etc. I think that, at root, the real issue is the modern trend for people to expect to be comfortable and safe: to not be challenged with ideas that do not match their world-view; to be addressed and referred to with their chosen gender-neutral pronoun; to hear only politically correct speech; to not need to think about, and reassess their opinions. Having to meet and deal with others wearing religious clothing, etc. is a challenge to the bouderaries of the isolated and safe world such people want to inhabit. I have a message for such people: welcome to planet earth! |
Posted on 11th November 2016 |
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Being English, I love marmite (English marmite - the New Zealand version is nowhere near as good - it goes very well with cheddar cheese); English kids are raised on marmite. My German friends think that I am mad to eat it, and that it tastes disgusting, but that is their problem. Getting people who don't know marmite to taste it is great sport; the expressions on their faces when they try it the first time are wonderful. I have always known that marmite is good for recovering from a hangover, as described on this page from Lifehack, due to the high concentration of B vitamins (and maybe also because of the salt content). Recently, however, I have seen quite a lot of reports about the health benefits of the dark and salty spread:
Those are just some of the claimed health benefits (some are better supported by research than others). Are you ready to start eating marmite? |
Posted on 11th March 2017 |
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This BBC news story is a little worrying. It describes how there are thousand of road bridges in England which are not fit to carry the maximum weight (44 ton) lorries (trucks). The result is lots of bridges with weight restrictions, meaning extra cost, inconvenience and delay for lorries, and a huge backlog of repair bills. I get the feeling that the author of the story, and the RAC (Royal Automobile Club) upon whose report the news story is based, are a little fuzzy about who is to blame for this. Normally local authorities are responsible for the upkeep of roads and bridges, and it seems that they have not been keeping up. Then I remembered: the UK government decided to increase the maximum weight of lorries on the roads, without any additional funding being allocated to upgrade roads and bridges, and to maintain them thereafter. The initial increase (with restrictions) was reported here, by the Independent in 1993, with the change taking effect from 1994, and most restrictions (e.g. the road-train restriction) being removed in 2001. Here is a House Of Commons Library note about the current regulations, which contains some of the history. Both the Independent story and the House Of Commons Library note state that the change in maximum weights was made on the basis that the per-axle weight would be reduced, thus reducing the damage to roads and bridges. While this gross simplification may be largely true about road damage, it is patently not true about many road-bridges where, depending on the design (basically depending on the length of an unsupported span), the total weight on a span of the bridge (and thus the amount of damage or wear and tear) is dependent upon the total weight of the lorry, not the per-axle weight. So to summarise, the UK government took an ill-thought-out decision, based on bad science (or more likely no science at all), which dramatically increased damage and wear and tear on road bridges, and not only did they provide no extra funding to local authorities for bridge upgrades and repairs, but during this period introduced budget cuts on local authority spending. I think it is perfectly clear who is responsible for the dreadful state of Britain's road-bridges. |
Posted on 20th June 2017 |
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It seems that the UK government is very out of step with the European parliament. This BBC report describes how MEPs (Members of European Parliament) believe that European citizens have a right to strong end-to-end encryption for all our online communications, to the extent that they want to modify "Article Seven of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights to add online privacy". The UK government, on the other hand, believes that they need to be able to read all our online communication, in order to prevent terrorist attacks, and therefore want either that we have only weak (crackable) encryption, or that they have back-door access to our communications (bypassing any encryption that we use). The US government's position is the same. Given the fact that the Internet is a rather anarchistic thing. with people bringing to market whatever will sell, and if something is banned in the country where you live, you can always use a service or product from another jurisdiction, it seems pretty unlikely that governments will be able to legislate away our ability to keep our messages private. Personally, I want to have my messages on Skype, WHatsApp, and FaceBook Messenger kept private. Whilst governments may claim that we should trust them, and that their intentions are pure, and today those claims may even be true, there is no guarantee that this will remain so. If, one day, you find yourselves living in some totalitarian regime, how will you organise protests, or even a revolution, when your every message is being read by that regime? This scenario is what we are warned about in books like George Orwell's "1984". The other reason why I don't want governments reading my messages is that they have proven themselves unable to keep a secret: there have been so many leaks and hacks of government held data, with that data being published in WikiLeaks or offered for sale on the dark-web. They can't even keep their own secrets, so how can I trust them to keep mine? Of course, the UK is now engaged in Brexit negotiations. If Brexit goes ahead, the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights will not have any sway over the UK government, and they will be free to do as they please (unless citizens protest strongly enough). I am so glad that I no longer live in Britain; at least in continental Europe, it looks like my data will remain secure. |
Posted on 11th March 2017 |
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I find the latest statement by Julian Assange, the man in charge of Wikileaks, as reported here by the BBC, to be somewhat hypocritical. As stated in the new report, Wikileaks is an "anti-secrecy website". They have upset many, especially in US government, by publishing documents which others would much rather remained secret. Now, however, the latest round of revelations (relating to the CIA's hacking tools, and their competence in hacking) has made Mr Assange rethink his opposition to secrecy. He has decided to first "offer" any further revelations on this subject to technology firms. That means two things to me:
Whatever the reasons for this change of heart, I think that it will be rather difficult for Wikileaks to claim the moral high-ground, once this system of two-speed leaks has begun. |
Posted on 23rd February 2017 |
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There has been a lot of news about AI (Artificial Intelligence). There have been major advances in the technology, and many products and services are being rolled out using it: we have AI chat-bots, AI personal assistants, AI in translation tools, and AI being used to stamp out fake news, and is being developed for use on the battlefields of the future, to name but a few. This new breed of AI uses surprisingly few computing resources: it no longer needs a huge computer centre, but simpler AI programs will run even on portable devices such as mobile phones. My position remains that AI is extremely dangerous. Smarter people than me, such as Professor Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, have said that AI poses an existential threat to humanity. It is not difficult to imagine scenarios where AI goes out of control and poses a threat to our existence: sci-fi movies and literature are full of examples (see the other posts in this thread for some of these works). I have argued in the past for researchers to take more seriously the laws of robotics, first proposed by Isaac Asimov in 1942. These laws are fairly simple:
I now realise, however, that this approach cannot work. Modern AI is not programmed in the conventional sense; it learns by being fed data. This means that the creators of an AI system do not know how it represents the information that it has learned, and how it implements the rules and priorities that it has been given. This means that it is not possible to program the laws of robotics into the AI at a basic level, since the programmers do not know the language in which it is thinking. It is, of course, possible to include the laws of robotics in the information that is taught to the AI, but we can never know what priority these laws will really be given by the AI, nor even what it understands by words such as "harm" and "human". Realistically, the only way we can protect ourselves from the doomsday scenarios of out of control AI is by ensuring that AI never has:
So, basically, we are screwed! |
Posted on 16th February 2017 |
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While reading this BBC new report, I started off feeling sympathy for Rolls Royce, but then I thought about it for a couple of seconds. Rolls Royce (the aero-engine manufacturer, not the car maker) has reported a record loss of £4.5bn. Part of this (£671m) was to settle corruption cases with UK and US authorities , but the remainder is due to "currency related contracts". It is usual in their business for contracts to be agreed in US$, or sometimes even in the currency of the end-customer, which can lead to shortfalls in revenue when the invoices are paid. Everyone knows that the British pound went into a slide against other currencies, mostly because of the Brexit referendum, but there is a standard financial technique for dealing with this: currency hedging. This involves buying foreign currency, or options on foreign currency, when you agree contracts in those foreign currencies, to protect against exchange rate variations. Companies can either do this themselves, or pay to use a service (provided by banks and other financial institutions). It is not complicated! So, the real question here is, why didn't Rolls Royce do this? Are the management really that stupid? I think that the £4.4bn loss due to such poor financial management should be, at least in part, recovered from the bonuses and salaries of senior management; then maybe there will be less such stupidity in the next financial year. |
Posted on 16th February 2017 |
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This Guardian news story describes how Tesco have been overcharging customers. An undercover reporter was overcharged on multi-buy offers at most of the stores (33 out of 50) visited, because marked promotions were out of date and no longer valid at the tills. Tesco has now said that it will check the prices of every item at its 3,500-plus stores across the UK, which is a major task. This kind of problem is not uncommon. I had a very similar issue recently at Netto (a discount supermarket in Germany): they have a promotion on boxes of 6 bottles of several wines, and I bought one last week, and was charged the per-bottle price, not the multi-buy price, due to a mistake by the check-out clerk. The law, however, is quite clear on this, all across Europe: shops must sell you goods at the advertised price, whether it is advertised in a promotion brochure, on-line, in-store, or on the shelf or product itself. If you don't want to be overcharged, you need to check the price that the check-out clerk rings up, and if it is wrong, complain. In these days of bar-code check-outs, if the price is actually wrong in the check-out system, this can create quite a problem at the check-out, involving a supervisor being called, but you just need to insist. Many people don't like to complain, but sometimes it needs to be done. |
Posted on 21st February 2017 |
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This Bloomberg news story confirms what I wrote here (on the 31st March 2014) and again here (on the 8th of December 2016), that war over resources will be one of the results of climate change. The report states that "top European and United Nations officials said" that "focusing too narrowly on the environmental consequences of global warming underestimates the military threats". "Their warnings follow the conclusions of defense [sic] and intelligence agencies that climate change could trigger resource and border conflicts". A lot of people have told me that my predictions are wrong: just paranoia. Just look, however, at virtually any war, whether in recent memory or more distant history: they were, without exception, at root, about resources: slaves, food, land, water, oil etc. Since all our predictions about the impacts of climate change are that resources will be in short supply, and their distribution will change (those that had resources will have less, and some that had few will have more), it seems inevitable that we will fight each other over them; that is simply what we do, and what we have always done. As an example, this news story in the Economist has a quote from Stephen Bannon, one of Donald Trump’s advisors, who said last year that he had “no doubt” that “we’re going to war in the South China Sea in five to ten years”; that could be a really major conflict (and it is all about resources). There is a common belief that the world is much less warlike than in the past, but the facts do not, in my view, support this belief. True, there has been no world war for more than 70 years, but there have nevertheless been wars, virtually non-stop, since the end of WWII. Some people will argue that we have, at least, avoided global thermonuclear war (so far, and only by the skin of our teeth), and that this shows that our leaders have learned a little restraint, but I strongly believe that the absence of nuclear conflict is because it is non-functional, in that it destroys the resources that are being fought over, and not because humanity has become more peaceful. I tend to take the jaundiced view that war is simply part of the human condition, and is largely unavoidable. There is, however, one huge problem with war in the modern world: war is always an environmental nightmare, with wholesale destruction of natural and man-made resources, and drastic pollution which can last decades (there are still areas of France blighted by the last world war). Our environment is now very fragile, due to pollution and over-exploitation, and we should not be subjecting it to more of the stress that is war. I think we need, as a species, to get over our addiction to war, somehow or other. |
Posted on 10th February 2017 |
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I was quite heartened to read this BBC news story. The report describes how park rangers in Kaziranga National Park in India are shooting suspected poachers to protect rhinos. They are shooting about 20 people a year. I don't see why anyone would find this shocking; I find it shocking that most parks which are home to endangered species are not doing so. The world is desperately short of rhinos (see this post about the virtual extinction of the Northern White Rhino), but we have plenty of humans (over 7 billion and counting). Efforts at protecting endangered species and preserving unique habitats are so often compromised because those efforts put the lives and livelihoods of humans at risk. As long as we continue to undermine the protection of the natural world by setting the wrong balance between people and wildlife, the natural world will continue to be destroyed, and once that natural world is gone, humans will soon be wiped out too. If you want to get an idea of what life would be like once the environment is heavily degraded, I strongly recommend that you watch the movie "Soylent Green". I certainly don't want to live in a world like that, but I probably don't have a choice in the matter. |
Posted on 21st February 2017 |
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Firstly, I would like to apologise for those of you (who voted to leave, in the Brexit referendum) who feel insulted by this article. This is statistical data, and does not necessarily prove that all Brexit voters are stupid, and also does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship; it merely points out a trend. This BBC report contains an analysis of local voting data from the Brexit referendum. The main finding was that:
There were, of course, other correlations with demographic data, such as age and ethnicity, but they were less strong than with education. So, again, sorry, but (and I am, of course, exaggerating here) if you voted for Britain to leave the EU, there is a chance that you are stupid, and a chance that that is why you voted for Brexit. I have been caused to wonder recently, during the US presidential elections, listening to voters' reactions to Donald Trump's policies and their reactions to the outrageous things he said, whether some people may actually be too stupid (or otherwise mentally impaired) to be allowed to vote. I understand that this goes against what many people see as a principle of democracy, but maybe it bears thinking about. I don't mean to say that, because one person has a degree, they have a better right to vote that someone who doesn't have a degree, but maybe there needs to be a cut-off (perhaps based on one or more of IQ, memory, awareness of history and current news) below which people shouldn't be voting because they don't understand the issues, the consequences of their choices, and cannot identify when candidates are lying or exaggerating. I am sure that many people reading this will violently disagree, as you are entitled to; it is just a thought, and not an idea that I am bought-in to, but one that might be worthy of analysis. |
Posted on 9th January 2017 |
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After I read this BBC news report this morning, I think the question "Is The UK Government The Enemy of Democracy?" is a reasonable one, to which the British voters need the answer. Non-Brits may not be aware of how the House of Lords works. In some ways, it is like the US Senate, but Lords are not elected; they are instead appointed by government. Each government appoints a few, so most of the Lords were appointed by previous governments. Appointments are for life (there are still a few hereditary peers, who mostly do not vote, but no new hereditary peers are created nowadays). There has long been talk of abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected body, in the same way that there is talk of abolishing the monarchy, but there are no real plans to do it, and the public seems to have mixed feelings on the issue. The House of Lords cannot completely block legislation (neither can the Queen); they can either pass bills or send bills back to the House of Commons with amendments, and that they can only do a limited number of times (three, I believe). Now, however, the government has said that the House of Lords will face an "overwhelming" public call to be abolished if it opposes the bill to trigger Article 50 (to begin the process of Brexit - leaving the EU). Hold on a minute! There are only two choices here:
It doesn't even matter which of the above views is right. The idea that abolition can be wielded as a punishment for "bad behaviour" fits neither of the above scenarios, and is nothing more than corrupt and undemocratic blackmail on the part of Theresa May's government. |
Posted on 9th February 2017 |
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I am sure that most of my readers will think me heartless, but I am really not feeling much sympathy for the victims in Louisiana who lost their houses in the tornadoes, as described in this BBC report. I mean, have you seen typical American houses? You can get an idea just from looking at the wreckage of the Chaney family house, pictured in the BBC story. Especially in the warmer parts of the USA, such as Louisiana, so many houses are timber framed with light-weight wooden or metal siding, and sometimes even wooden shingle roofs. What do you think happens to such a house when it gets windy? These people know that they live in areas prone to tornadoes. Haven't they heard the story of the Three Little Pigs? |
Posted on 8th December 2016 |
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According to a study by UK military experts, as described on this story in the Huffington Post UK Edition, climate change will create An "epic" humanitarian crisis. Some of these UK experts' predictions, backed-up by other experts from around the world, are very much in line with what I predicted in March 2014 in this post. There will be huge increases in:
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Posted on 4th December 2016 |
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This BBC report, about the issuing of "depredation order" allowing a mountain lion to be hunted, illustrates some of the typical poor logic and bad assumptions about wildlife and how wild animals are (mis-)treated. Most people work on the assumption that wildlife is great (and should be protected) as long as it doesn't harm livestock, pets, business or people. This position is inherently flawed. If you encroach on the territory, or steal the food supply, of wild animals, then there will inevitably come a point where the needs and desires of humans are in conflict with those of the wildlife:
There are many cases where conservation measures have consequences on human life and commerce. Farmers in Scotland are still complaining that golden eagles are killing too many lambs in the spring. Wolves are making a comeback in Germany, and there are inevitable consequences on livestock, and eventually on human life. Gamekeepers in Scotland are regularly in trouble for their attempts to control wildlife populations, to limit predation on grouse raised for the hunt. If we do conservation only as long as it doesn't inconvenience us, then we may as well not bother. Most wildlife will disappear, and humans will suffer as a result. The wild animals (mountain lions, tigers, otters, large birds of prey, herons, sharks, etc.) were in the territories where humans consider them to be problems, long before humanity spread and bred to cover the planet from coast to coast. Why should the wildlife keep being pushed back to smaller and more marginal habitats? Humans also need to compromise. The only way that humanity will be prepared to compromise is if we formalise the inalienable rights of animals, sea-life, and even plants, so that they can have legal protection. |
Posted on 4th December 2016 |
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This BBC story got me thinking about sexism: about how it is no longer acceptable to be sexist about/to women, but still OK to be sexist about/to men. Don't get me wrong: I think it is, in some sense, great that there is an all-women expedition to Antarctica. It is just that, by its very nature, it excludes men. I feel fairly confident that, if a man applied to to join the expedition, he would be refused on the entirely logical grounds that it is an all-woman expedition; it seems fair and sensible. If the situation were reversed, however, and a woman was refused when trying to join an all-men expedition (or an all-male golf club, or an elite combat team in the armed forces of some countries) there would be outrage at the sexism: there would be a social media campaign against the sexists, and a climb-down could be expected. I don't say this based on supposition; there are plenty of recorded cases to prove the point, in the press and in court records. So, why is it OK for women to exclude men, but not OK for men to exclude women? If I even tried to organise an all-men event of some kind, I would probably be swamped with complaints and bad publicity. I believe in the equality of the sexes, but today it is just pie-in-the-sky, and we all need to try harder. Women's representation in government, the civil service, and the senior levels of business are far from equal, and the same goes for their salaries. On the other hand, we tolerate the exclusion of men by women, but not vice versa. |
Posted on 4th December 2016 |
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I am not encouraged by some of the messages and assumptions in this piece on the BBC Magazine (part of a series featuring 100 Women). The first thing that struck me was that the novel thing for Kathy Murray was the idea that she should treat her husband with respect; that his opinions and preferences were just as valid as hers, and that she should therefore stop trying to control him. Is it really such a novel idea that you treat your partner with respect? If so, no wonder there are so many failed marriages, and so many people struggling on in their relationships while so being unhappy. Why would you even marry someone whom you don't respect? The other message that felt so wrong to me was that relationships are a battle, and that Kathy Murray fixed her marriage by "surrendering". As far as I am concerned, relationships are based on partnership and support. If you have to continue fighting the same kind of battles at home, as you fight at work and elsewhere in the world, you will be exhausted and on-edge the whole time. The idea that someone in a relationship is trying to control their partner fits with the American concept of the "fixer-Upper". Women have been known to settle for someone (i.e. to marry them) despite known flaws, with the idea that the man can bed fixed-up through training and control. The more I think about this, the more people I realise that I know whose relationships are built on this shaky foundation. |
Posted on 29th November 2016 |
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I wonder whether the German courts, government and people understand exactly what kind of precedent has been set by the case described on this BBC story. Oskar Groening, known as "the bookkeeper of Auschwitz", has been convicted by a German Federal Court for being an accessory to the murder of prisoners in the Auschwitz death-camp, despite him only having witnessed (and presumably provided logistical support for) the murders. The ruling surprised many, because of a ruling handed down in 1969 that being aware of the murders and working at a death-camp was not proof of being an accessory to murder (the case in 1969 was against a camp dentist, who was deemed not guilty). The protection afforded by that ruling now seems to have evaporated. This means that a whole host of trades and professions could now be prosecuted: people working at the camps, either civilian or military, as doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, supply and delivery staff, cooks and washers-up, cleaners, translators and interpreters. It could also mean the prosecution of any civilian who had witnessed such murders, or even those who had reasonable grounds to believe that such murders were taking place: basically the whole German nation at the time (more than just citizens of Germany as we now know it, but also most of the Volksdeutsch in Poland, The Czech Republic, Austria, etc.). I think (and I know I am not alone in this) that it is time that the Germans got over their guilt about the war. It was a very long time ago, when the world was very different. Seeing how easily the modern world swings back in the direction of nationalism, fascism, and discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, as evidenced by Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, UKIP, Geert Wilders, etc., it is hard to view the Nazi years as a uniquely German problem. I remember a conversation with a German friend, a few years ago, about the national guilt over WW II. He said that, of course, German people felt guilty for electing Hitler (although Germans are quick to point out that Hitler was Austrian) and the Nazis, and following them to war, but that a possibly even greater guilt was that, having decided to wage a world-war, "Well, we are Germans, so, of course, we should have won". |
Posted on 29th November 2016 |
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I have noticed a growing tendency for the media to leave out or incorrectly use punctuation. This includes the BBC, which was once the bastion of proper English. This story from the BBC is an excellent example. The headline of the story states "Gambia elections: Jammeh suspends campaign to mourn Castro". That prompted two questions: why did President Jammeh have a campaign to mourn Fidel Castro, and why did he cancel it? After a moment's reflection, I realised that the journalist meant to write "Gambia elections: Jammeh suspends campaign, to mourn Castro", although it would also have been fine to write "Gambia elections: to mourn Castro, Jammeh suspends campaign". I have seen more than enough examples of this kind of error in recent news items. Proper punctuation ensures clarity and ease of reading. Incorrect punctuation adds confusion and can alter or even completely invert the meaning of a phrase. Sometimes, altering word-order and adding more words can achieve the same result as punctuation, but journalism is often about transmitting a message with a few words as possible, most especially in headlines. Sadly, however, the media seems to hold the incompatible and contrary belief that certain kinds of punctuation do not belong in headlines (colons are OK, but commas are not). Many newspapers, magazines and web-sites will argue that criticism of their punctuation is unfair, because they were quoting someone (a politician or business leader, for example), but sometimes this is no excuse. I have heard speeches and official statements where the correct punctuation was in the original text, and correctly and clearly enunciated by the speaker, but whoever at the newspaper transcribed it did not understand. Such cases are due to bad grammar education in the journalism industry. To be fair, there are also cases where the speakers do not know how to express themselves. One notable example from recent press coverage is Donald Trump, who speaks as if his mental age is about 9 years. I recently saw a TV interview where the woman interviewer felt it necessary interpret each of his answers into normal and grown-up English. A few years about I witnessed a telephone conversation between a colleague, Roger, and one of the company's documentation team based in Bangalore, India. The process was that a developer wrote not only code, but also a text file of updates to the documentation (add this paragraph, delete these paragraphs, change XXX to YYY); the documenter then made these changes to a PDF version of the document. Our developers were German, Russian, Hungarian and Romanian, but nevertheless wrote good and grammatically correct English (our documentation was all in English). Roger, a project manager for several projects, was upset that the correct English had been modified by the guy in Bangalore, and again after corrections were submitted by the developer. The documenter argued long and hard that he was improving the language by adding random additional punctuation, whereas in fact the meaning of one sentence had been reversed. Roger and I concluded that the documenter's attitude was that punctuation was like seasoning on food, and that, in general, the more the better. This attitude seems to be widespread in the modern world, but punctuation is not about prettifying language, but about making it clear and unambiguous. |
Posted on 16th November 2016 |
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This BBC report describes how money pledged by the UK government for children's mental health is not getting to "the fromtline". The government promised "£1.4bn for child mental health by 2020" (an extra £250m a year), but instead, much of the money is being used "to offset NHS cuts elsewhere". This, simply put, is theft and corruption. Do they really feel that, after making NHS funding a major issue in the Brexit referendum, it is OK to play fast and loose with taxpayers' money in this fashion? It is our money, and we have a reasonable expectation that there is honesty and transparency in government spending. This is rather like what governments around the world did with pension funding. They collected money (in the UK, as National Insurance contributions) from taxpayers, for years, and used it to subsidise other parts of the government budgets; now the state government pension funds are not enough to pay the pensions that are due, resulting in the raising of retirement ages. In my own work, I am often assigned budgets for specific expenditure (staff, computer systems, etc.) and I am expected to use the various budgets for the purposes for which they are assigned, and I get into trouble if I overspend. Why are governments not held to similar rules? I do, of course, understand that governments need a certain amount of discretionary budget to deal with natural disasters, unplanned military activity (e.g. peace-keeping), changes in national economic performance and the like, but most of the budget should be spent on the things for which it was authorised. Not only do governments not follow the rules that business are required to follow, but even after the event it is usually not possible to discover exactly how much and on what they have spent our money. Businesses are required to publish audited accounts; it is well past time that governments were held to the same standards. |
Posted on 16th November 2016 |
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This BBC news story reports that IMDB (a huge online database of movies, TV programmes and actors) is suing the state of California over a law requiring it to remove actors' ages at their request. California's reasoning seems to be that publishing actors' ages is discriminatory. I am afraid that I disagree. The age of an actor is information relevant to casting decisions, to validate the sometimes less than accurate statements made by actors about their life experience, past actions and the reasons for their opinions, and is something that audiences want to know for various reasons. I do agree that age is made into too much of a headline by the press, when writing about famous people (especially about women), but suppressing this information is going too far: it is censorship, and sometimes readers have valid reasons for wanting to know the age of an actor (or a politician, business person, or other celebrity). Publishing someone's age is not inherently discriminatory; the important thing is what the reader does with that data. For example, the age of Donald Trump (the oldest person ever elected to the US presidency) is relevant to his suitability for office, and censoring that information would have interfered with proper democratic choice. When applying for a job, I have to submit my CV, and if my age is not in it, I will either be asked my age at interview, or maybe will not even get an interview. Bruce Willis is famous for doing many of his own movie stunts, despite being born in 1955. That information is not a cause of discrimination, but rather a reason to be impressed with him. Can we please just apply some common sense to the constant demands for political correctness? |
Posted on 9th November 2016 |
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It seems that Donald Trump has won the US presidential election, according to this BBC news report. Brits will probably be experiencing a feeling of déjà vu, as it is so very like the Brexit referendum, where everyone was worried at first, and then relaxed as it looked like the result would turn out OK, only to be shocked when the count was finally in. Unless all Trump's speeches and policy statements turn out to just be posturing, the world is going to change dramatically:
My guess is that the USA is going to change from being like that supportive big brother, on whom you could count in troubled times, to being that wayward younger sibling whose actions are a constant source of embarrassment, inconvenience and cost. I think maybe I will get in touch with Elon Musk to see if I can sign up for his Mars colonisation programme. |
Posted on 9th November 2016 |
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I had rather mixed feelings about this story on the BBC, until Sheryl reminded me about her experience of Florence. The news story describes how the city of Florence (Italy) blocked the creation of a McDonalds "restaurant" (calling a McDonalds a restaurant is a bit of a stretch) on one of the city's most historic plazas, the Piazza del Duomo. Now the company is suing the city, claiming discrimination. I can sympathise with the city wanting to preserve the culture of their city centre, and the cuisine available can be seen as part of that culture. There are, however, the matters of choice and convenience, for both tourists and residents; anyone who has visited Italy will have noticed that there are almost no restaurant options there except Italian food. Sheryl, my fiancée, did the typical Eurorail tour of Europe before deciding to move here from the USA, and Florence was one of the places she visited (one of her least favourite). She arrived on an overnight train in the very early hours of the morning, and desperately needed a coffee, but nowhere was open. After waiting two hours, McDonalds eventually opened; Italy is famous for good coffee (and the coffee at McDonalds is rubbish), but all the local options for coffee opened much later, so she had to make do with what she could get. Then, after doing some sightseeing (and spending hours finding the hostel where she was booked to stay), she wanted some dinner, but again, because she wanted to eat too early (6 pm), there were no local restaurants open, and she had the choice of waiting for hours or going to (yes, you probably guessed already) McDonalds. Like me, Sheryl is always eager to sample local food and wine when she visits somewhere (she surprised me with her adventurousness when we were in Malta), but it seems that Florence is just not geared up to provide local food if you are not willing and able to eat at a time compatible with the local customs. I therefore find it odd and disappointing that the city of Florence has blocked McDonalds from providing a choice that local businesses are not interested in providing. Don't get me wrong: I am no fan of McDonalds. The coffee is dreadful, as is the food. It would be my very last choice for food (for breakfast, lunch or dinner). I do, however, want to have at least some option to eat when I need to for whatever reason, whether because I am too tired to eat later, or because I need to get to bed because I have a very early start the next day. It seems that the city of Florence is not interested in making decisions to provide customer choice, and in adapting to the needs and desires of tourists and other visitors. |
Posted on 8th November 2016 |
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I admit to having a lot of sympathy with the position taken by professor Jordan Peterson, as described in this BBC report. Professor Peterson risks being charged with breaking the law on discrimination, by refusing to use gender neutral pronouns (among other things). There are so many things wrong with the the political correctness agenda in this matter:
Many people have enough difficulty using their native language just to express themselves clearly and unambiguously. The standards of spelling and grammar in English (German and Dutch too) in common use are abysmal (e.g. "You done good" instead of "you did well"; I get frequent emails from job agents which say "Hope your well" - you hope what about my well, and why is it any of your business where I get my water from?). I feel that expecting average people to be politically correct, when they can hardly string three words together, is too much to ask. Being politically correct is even harder when communicating with people from other countries (e.g. in South Africa, "black" means ethnically African, and "coloured" means mixed-race or ethnically Indian/Pakistani, which is totally at odds with what is politically correct in the USA). Please, can we just forget about politically correctness? |
Posted on 8th November 2016 |
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I was rather bemused by this story in The Telegraph. Donald Trump was hustled off stage by his Secret Service detail, because, apparently, someone in the audience had a gun. As I understand it, Trump, and the Republican party, approves of guns: of owning them, and carrying them. Their position is that widespread gun ownership makes everyone safer. I find that policy hard to square with the idea that there is danger to the candidate if someone in the audience at a rally has a gun; surely the fact that he had a gun made Donald Trump safer? Of course, this example of hypocrisy may point to another issue: that despite policy and speeches to the contrary, Mr. Trump and his Republican apologists do do actually believe that more guns make everyone safer. |
Posted on 7th November 2016 |
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I would really love to have a job with an expenses deal like Ian Cleland, the guy in this report in The Guardian! I have had many jobs, both as a freelancer and as a permanent employee, but never one where the expenses were handled like that. Ian Cleland claimed for the lease and insurance of a luxury Jaguar for himself and his wife, plus nearly £3,000 for car servicing and new tyres. Cleland also spent £3,000 of taxpayers’ money on first-class rail travel, and his dining expenses included a meal with other staff at a Marco Pierre White restaurant totalling £471 and at the Bank restaurant in Birmingham for £703.45. When I used my own car for business, I was able to claim a pre-defined mileage rate for it; no extras for insurance, tyres, or anything else. When I had a company car, there was a greatly reduced mileage rate, only for petrol (since my employer was already paying for the car, servicing and insurance). Also, when I had a company car, I was strongly encouraged to use it for all business travel; I would have needed a damned good reason to use the train instead (and never first-class!). The restaurant bills might be OK, depending on how many colleagues were with him, but the other items simply look like him squeezing out as much money as he could. Of course, his employer has to take a large part of the blame, for giving him the expectation that he could claim such items, and for accepting his ridiculous expense claims. It is not as if the man is poor: his salary of £180,000 a year should allow him to spend some of his own money on meals for his employees; I earn much less than that, and I often buy drinks and dinner for my team members. Clearly there is still too much money sloshing about in the budgets of government funded organisations, and a culture of corruption. It is us the they are stealing from! |
Posted on 11th November 2016 |
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This report in the Guardian should worry all Brits. "German authorities report twentyfold increase in applications for reserved citizenship from people living in UK. Descendants of the tens of thousands of German Jews who fled the Nazis and found refuge in Britain are making use of their legal right to become German citizens following the Brexit vote." If ever there was a clear-headed economic case that Brexit is bad for Britain, this is it. There is. of course, another possible factor: that Britain has become much more openly racist since the Brexit vote, but there has also been an increase in racism, nationalism and general anti-Semitic sentiment in many other parts of Europe. I can only guess, but I think that the economic reasons are probably the main motivation for this mass-exodus. I am so glad that I don't live in the UK any more. |
Posted on 28th October 2016 |
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I was really incensed by this story from the BBC. Almost every paragraph of the report contains something that is outrageous and unacceptable. Three juveniles (aged 14, 16, and 17) were given suspended sentences by a court in Hamburg, Germany, for the rape of a 14 year-old girl. The 21 year-old who also took part in the rape was given a mere 4 years jail sentence. The victim was left lying on the ground in sub-zero temperatures, and was hypothermic when found; she was rushed to intensive care, and is lucky to still be alive. The issues that I have with this case include:
The case has rightly sparked public outrage in Germany, and a petition is being raised, and has collected almost 90,000 signatures in the space of a week. The prosecution has also appealed the sentences. There is mention of the recent (July 2016) change in the rape law on Germany. Before the latest amendment, rape was only deemed to have occurred if the victim had physically defended themselves, meaning that rapes of unconscious (due to alcohol, drugs or other reasons) or seriously physically disabled people were not prosecuted. Thank goodness that the law is now more in line with internationally recognised standards. There is also a passing reference to a case earlier this year in the USA, where Brock Turner, a 20 year-old student, received a four month sentence for assaulting an unconscious woman. Brock Turner's father stated that his son should not be jailed for "20 minutes of action". What a bizarre argument. How long it took has no relationship to the seriousness of the crime. It is, for example, possible to murder someone in a mere 2 seconds, and to steal someone's life-savings in a few minutes. |
Posted on 20th September 2016 |
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These two stories (about the Prime Minister's speech about immigration, to the UN, from the Guardian before and from the BBC after she delivered that speech) highlight the racism and lack of humanity of the British people, and the hypocrisy of Theresa May. She claims to have concerns about the proportion of immigrants who are economic refugees, and plans to deal with this by limiting the number who reach Britain, and the number who are allowed to stay. It seems to be true that many people who apply to stay in richer countries are motivated by money, and that they are the wealthier of the immigrants; I have previously written about this issue amongst immigrants in Germany, here. There are, however, a number of flaws and hypocrisies in her arguments:
I think it is well past time for some common sense, some honesty, and some sound ethics in politics and in the attitudes of people on the streets, around the world, and most especially in Britain. |
Posted on 21st August 2016 |
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With every passing year, I become more disappointed with the fruit that I find in the shops. I cannot be the only one. Doctors, nutritionists and government departments are constantly encouraging us to eat more fruit, because of the health benefits, but the world's fruit breeders, growers, buyers and distributors seem to be actively discouraging me from eating fruit. Many people who know me wrongly believe that I don't like fruit, because I would rather eat no fruit than eat bad fruit. My complaints and criticisms apply most strongly to apples, which nowadays mostly taste like turnip, rather than apple. There was a time when getting a good and tasty apple was simply a question of buying the right variety (I liked Cox's Orange Pippin, and Russets), but now the choice of species in the shops doesn't seem to include apples with flavour. I got an insight into why fruit (especially apples) have so little taste, many years ago. I used to live in Marden, in the middle of the Kentish fruit-growing area, and there was a yearly fruit show (the biggest and main fruit show in Kent), with prizes for the best fruit. One year I went to the show, and discovered that the fruit (mostly apples) are judged on size, colour, conformity, and even on the ability to withstand transport; everything except taste. No wonder our fruit tastes of nothing! Another reason for tasteless fruit is that fruit has become an international business. Fruit is transported all around the world, spending months in refrigerated ships, with the result that some fruit is available all year round (and some people no longer even know when the season is for the fruit they are eating). Fruit which is to be carried in refrigerated ships is picked earlier (is more under-ripe), and it is this earlier harvesting, and to a lesser extent the direct effect of the refrigeration, that destroys the flavour of fruit. There are species of apple which are bred for keeping, where the full flavour doesn't develop until they have been stored for a few months, but instead growers, shippers and shops offer non-keeping varieties such as Red Delicious and Golden Delicious. The harvesting of fruit too early has some very annoying side-effects. In the case of mangoes, avocados, and sometimes even nectarines and peaches, you can buy fruit which never actually gets ripe: it goes straight from rock-hard and tasteless, to rotten. With avocados, we generally buy two, just to be sure of getting one which is ripe and not rotten. Recently there has been some discussion on social media about wax being added to apples and other fruit and vegetables. Wax is produced naturally by a number of fruit species (apples, plums, pears, etc.). Some growers and packers apply additional wax to some fruit and veg. to improve keeping, and to make the produce look more attractive to shoppers. Significant amounts of testing have been performed to assure consumers that the wax added is harmless, but this does not mean that the practice of adding the wax has been demonstrated to be safe: adding wax binds dirt and chemical pollutants like pesticides to the skin of the fruit, and makes it much harder to clean the fruit by washing. Additionally, what does not seem to have been tested is whether adding wax has any effect, positive or negative, on flavour, but I find it hard to believe that an extra coating of wax would not make fruit taste worse. There is also irradiated fruit on the market, and some people are concerned about the effect this may have on flavour. The short answer is that there are not enough studies to determine whether flavour is effected by irradiation, but given that the scientific community now (after a long rear-guard action) admits that irradiation causes chemical changes to food, and that fruit is normally still alive when we buy it and eat it, which sterilisation by radiation changes to some degree, there is almost certainly a negative impact on flavour. Having said that, I think that most of us would choose irradiated fruit over mouldy fruit. So what are we to do? Well, what I try to do is the following:
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Posted on 8th May 2016 |
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I know we shouldn’t laugh, since people were injured, but it is hard not to. This BBC story described how a judge in Pakistan asked a police officer to show how an explosive device worked. It is not clear what the device was (either a hand grenade or a detonator), but it was supposed to have been defused. Whatever criticisms we might level at the Pakistani courts for failing to enforce the rule of law, at least the rules of physics are clearly working fine. |
Posted on 8th May 2016 |
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Reading this story on The Local (a Norwegian news site) did not make me feel safe. I am working in Norway at the moment, and now I read that a Norwegian Air Force F-16 has shot up a control tower containing 3 officers, apparently by accident. No-one was injured, but it seems that this is not the first time this control tower has been fired upon by accident during exercises. I don’t know which is worse:
Anyway, I certainly won’t be going to an air-show in Norway. |
Posted on 30th June 2016 |
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As you may guess, I am rather angry about the Brexit vote, for a number of reasons. Firstly, there is the way the campaigns for and against, were conducted. Everyone should already know that politicians cannot be trusted, but the Leave and Remain campaigns have really pushed the envelope regarding lying to the electorate. What is worse is that people (voters and the press) don’t seem to care. When I was young, politicians who were caught lying to the House Of Parliament had no choice but to resign, but that has not been the case for a long time. My main concern, the free movement of labour, which is an essential foundation to my life and work, was not a significant part of anyone’s campaign. Well, people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, thank you so much for leaving me to drown. The main arguments in the campaigns were:
So, clearly, EU membership is not the source of any supposed immigration problem. Indeed, Britain, like most western nations, desperately needs more immigrants to fill skill gaps, and to help reduce the average age of the population (so that people’s pensions can be funded), but the government is too cowardly to declare this to the voting public.
So, the financial arguments for Brexit are either unclear, or demonstrably wrong.
In general, these laws and regulations are good things, and things that should have been enacted by Westminster without the push from Brussels, if we could trust our politicians to look after our interests. As far as I can see, there is no sound argument for Brexit on any grounds, but people voted, of course, on the basis of their own personal bigotry, rather than on the basis of facts. The lessons that I take from the Brexit debacle are:
I strongly believe that, because of global warming and overpopulation, the world is going to become a more dangerous and less friendly place. Now Britain will have to face that alone (it may be worse than that, as there is now serious talk of the UK breaking up due to the Brexit vote, leaving England and maybe Wales, against the world). Well, when you get into trouble, don’t come running to me, and don’t ask the EU for help. |
Posted on 20th May 2016 |
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I am a little confused by the contradiction between these news stories:
I had thought that the situation was as described in the first article: that civil compensation suits could not be filed against governments. For this reason, legal history is full of cases against individuals and corporations, rather than the governments that were really to blame. If this is indeed the legal situation, then the Saudis are right to warn of the consequences of changing the rules (so that the families of victims of 9/11 can sue the Saudi government for compensation). The US government has a long and horrific history of meddling in wars and politics in countries around the world, and setting a precedent allowing governments to be sued could open them up to compensation claims for actions in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Japan, Grenada, Egypt (CIA funding of the Muslim Brotherhood), Africa (for tipping off the apartheid government about the location of Nelson Mandela, causing his incarceration for 27 years), South America (for DEA actions to combat drug production and smuggling), and even Germany (for the post-WWII partition of Germany), to name but a few. The second and third stories, however, show that it is possible in the USA to sue a foreign government and also the domestic government. I think we could be seeing a whole programme of legal action, especially as a result of the new 9/11 law suit legislation described in the first story. It is about time that bad intelligence, and funding of revolutionaries/terrorists had consequences. Governments and their various agencies should never be above the law. |
Posted on 15th May 2016 |
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There are several very important lessons to be learned from the recent enormous ransom-ware attack (reported here, by the BBC), which affected at least 99 countries, and had huge impact on the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The attack was a worm (not a virus), meaning that infection passes directly from one networked device to another, without the need for any user interaction (being careful about what email attachments you click on is no protection). The attack was stopped, in part, by the efforts of a UK security researcher "MalwareTech", who found a "kill-switch coded into the worm. This kill-switch will prevent new devices being affected by the worm, but will not decrypt already infected devices.
As far as I know, no NHS patients died or suffered other major harm due to the cyber-attack; that is pure luck, and next time (because there will certainly be a next time) we may not be so lucky. We have a whole host of services (electricity generation, including control of nuclear power stations, electricity distribution, water distribution, flood prevention, mobile phone, emergency services, Internet services, traffic control, air-traffic control, weather forecasting, weapon system control, etc.), most of which are essential and many of which are safety-critical, which depend on computers. Hacking is relatively easy (you can buy kits to develop hacking tools fairly cheaply) and preventing it or repairing the results is hard, expensive and time-consuming. The world really needs to learn the lessons from this attack, urgently. |
Posted on 8th May 2016 |
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I don’t fully understand why the opinion poll reported in this story on the Telegraph is being taken so seriously. The report tells us that the poll found that 52% of Muslims in Britain said homosexuality should not be legal in Britain. I suppose that many people will argue that the principles of democracy argue that this idea should be taken seriously. I see it otherwise, and not based on the usual racist arguments. Whatever your religion is, there is no doubt that Britain is an officially Christian country. There is no official or constitutional separation of church and state, as you find in the USA or Germany. The head of state, the Queen, is also the ultimate head of the Church of England; although the UK has no written constitution, the connection of the Church of England and the government of the country is nevertheless constitutional (yes, there is a constitution, just not a written one). That means that opinions based on other religious beliefs and doctrines have no legal standing. Even if the majority of voters in Britain believe that homosexuality should be illegal, if they believe it based on non-Christian religious beliefs, it should never become law. Don’t get me wrong: I am not a Christian; neither am I a Muslim. Nevertheless, if people choose to live in a country that has a constitution, written or not, based on a particular religion, then they have signed up themselves and their descendants to live by the rules of that religion. Luckily for British non-Christians, modern Christianity is very flexible and tolerant, which is why living in Britain is much easier for people with “alien” belief systems than, say, Pakistan or Iran. |
Posted on 17th April 2016 |
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Since this story appeared on the BBC at the beginning of March, there have been a number of related news reports, and quite a stir on Facebook. A lot of the public are not pleased about the idea of kids playing no-tackling rugby. I do understand that there are real health issues. I myself have a permanent injury from playing rugby (sustained as an adult, though, not as a child), and many people have far more serious injuries from the game. The thing is that most versions of rugby which have no tackling also have no scrums or rucks. These games are therefore very different to play in, and also to watch. Although (at least so far) the plan seems only to stop kids from playing real rugby up to the age of 18, children will not learn how to play real rugby from playing touch or tag rugby, and this will reduce the number and skill level of people going into rugby as adults. I really doubt that tag rugby will ever become a popular spectator sport, because no-one really wants to watch such a sport. Rugby League and Rugby Union are very popular spectator sports, and Rugby Union is an important part of the international sports scene. So let’s be realistic as we discuss the ban on tackling in school rugby: we would be also signing the death warrant for the sport for adults too. If that is what people decide, then fine, but let’s not let the side-effects on the adult sport catch us by surprise. |
Posted on 17th April 2016 |
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On the 29th March I flew from Munich to Oslo, for work, on a Lufthansa flight. The flight was OK (on time, and with good service) except for one thing: in the seat row behind me were a young woman and her two kids. The kids were out of control: arguing and fighting, interspersed with lots of crying. The German businessman in the seat next to mine complained twice to the mother, the second time more strongly and with my participation; he asked her to calm her kids down, which she said she was doing; he pointed out that what she was actually doing was winding her kids up, not calming them down (and he was right). I know it can be difficult traveling with young kids, but parents need to be prepared, and not make the problem worse. The daughter and son were around 5 and 4 years old respectively; far too old for such behaviour. It was also clear that they had the power in the relationship, not the mother; a common problem, usually a result of the attitude that “my kids are my whole life” instead of “my kids are a part of my life”. This situation highlights a problem that is getting worse in the modern world, where the extended family network either no longer exists, or is deliberately excluded from child-rearing: people do not know how to parent. They need training and mentoring, of the kind that used to come from grandparents and other family members, before and during raising kids. I don’t know how this could happen in today's world, and who will pay, but such help is desperately needed by so many parents today. |
Posted on 17th April 2016 |
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I was rather shocked to read a recent report from Business Insider. It included a ranking of the “world’s best airlines”, and also the “world’s worst”, based on cases where airline passengers filed claims for compensation through AirHelp. I don’t have any major dispute with the list of the worst, but I certainly do disagree with the so-called best, which includes:
Some of the airlines on the list of the best are, to my knowledge, good (in these days of ever decreasing airline service) including :
I was also disappointed to note that Cathay Pacific, who got Sheryl and me home from New Zealand after British Airways washed their hands of us, did not make it onto the list of the best airlines. |
Posted on 17th April 2016 |
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A few days ago I was in The Ophelia Bar (just opposite my hotel - I am a regular there, because the food and drink are good, prices are OK and the staff friendly) with Renato, and we started talking with the owner about tips. Since most things are paid on credit cards here, if you want to give a tip you have to add it to the amount on the credit card terminal; and we were wondering whether the waiter/barman gets the tip, or if the bar keeps the money. It turns out the the waiter/barman keeps the tip (at least at the Ophelia - each sale is tagged with the service person's name), less a deduction that goes as tip to the kitchen staff. Tips seem to comprise about half of the barman's income. That all sounds very fair, but then we started discussing tax, assuming that tips would be taxable. Apparently that is not exactly the case, as the Norwegian government charges you tax anyway on assumed tips; if you earn more tips than they estimate, you are winning, but if you earn less, or if the company pockets them, then you are screwed. Taxi drivers are similarly screwed by the tax office. Again, most people pay by card, and can add a tip if they choose. Even if customers add a tip on the card, the tax department assumes that there is an additional cash tip, and taxes taxi drivers on it. So much for "innocent until proven guilty"! There are lots of other bizarre regulations in Norway, mostly relating to tax and/or alcohol. You can only buy alcohol in government monopoly shops (there is the same system in Sweden). In bars, you cannot order a double of any spirit (but you can order one, and another on the side which you can then add to the first glass). Bars and restaurants may not offer you a complimentary drink (brandy, limoncello, or whatever) after your meal, no matter how much you spent; the same seems to apply to free coffee. Bars may not give their staff complimentary drinks (not even a coffee), nor free meals (they can sell staff a meal at cost, but not free). The owner of the Ophelia was charged once for having a free coffee at his own bar (the charges were eventually dropped). If he wants a drink he needs to either buy one, or drink from his private cabinet containing bottles he bought separately. The tax office also investigates discounts (also heavily controlled), and may charge owners if the tax and discount accounts do not all balance. I thought Germany was bureaucratic and had invasive taxation rules, but Norway really wins the prize! |
Posted on 9th March 2016 |
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![]() This report on VOA news caused me some amusement. In its original form, it stated that “The United States has deployed an aircraft carrier and two crosiers [see the photo to the right] … to the South China Sea”. That could only mean a religious war, although curious given the constitutional separation of church and state in the USA. Sadly, the news report has now been updated, and the crosiers are now cruisers (and have been joined by two destroyers): more informative, but less amusing. |
Posted on 4th March 2016 |
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This BBC report, about how easy it is to hack into the bank accounts of customers who do online banking from their mobile phones, highlights the reason why I don't use my mobile phone for banking (I also don't do in-App purchases on my phone, for the same reason). Not only do many banking and purchasing Apps keep sensitive data on your phone, from where it can be hacked, but phones (actually SIMs) can be cloned, and traffic (calls and SMSes) can be diverted to another mobile device (as described in the BBC news story). There are some (usually national) standards to try to make such things more secure, many of which ensure that your sensitive data (bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) are not actually kept on your phone, and if a new SIM is registered for your phone account, these details must be re-established. My project is testing this functionality, amongst other things, right now. What the article highlights, for me, is just how pathetic the security analyses by NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland were. I am sure their customers expect better. If you really need to do online banking and purchasing on your phone, then make sure that your financial service provider complies with good standards. If you are not sure, check with an expert. You might have to change financial institutions and/or mobile provider to get a solution that is good enough. |
Posted on 4th March 2016 |
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I was very surprised to read this BBC report about a court case, in Russia, of all places. Viktor Krasnov is on trial in southern Russia, and faces a possible one-year prison sentence for having written "there is no God" during an internet exchange. Viktor Krasnov was reported to police by two young men who objected to his language in a dispute on a Russian social network. He was charged for having "insulted the feelings of worshippers", which was made illegal in 2013 after the Pussy Riot case. I find it bizarre because organised religion has historically had very poor legal status in Russia, but this recent law seems to protect certain religious opinions against others; it suffers from the same hypocrisy problem as all laws against blasphemy. Not believing in God, or gods, is a perfectly valid position (although an illegal belief in a surprising number of countries, and not legal to be publicly stated or published in many more). This court case, and the very existence of the statute under which it is being prosecuted, is an insult to those who hold that belief (that there is no God), as are similar laws around the world. Russia also seems to have shot themselves in the foot with this legislation: it was enacted for reasons of social control, and as a side effect gave the Russian Orthodox Church a status that it hadn't had since the beginning of Communist control. Good luck putting that genie back in the box! |
Posted on 4th March 2016 |
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Emadeldin Elsayed is probably going to be deported from the USA to Egypt, as described in this BBC report. His study visa has already been revoked and he was arrested. What he did to earn this was to post on FaceBook that "he was willing to serve a life sentence for killing the billionaire [Donald Trump], and the world would thank him", according to his lawyer. Emadeldin Elsayed apparently regretted the post as soon as he made it. He later said "I don't know why they would think I am a threat to the national security of the United States just because of a stupid post." Well, stupid is the right word. Donald Trump is not a good person, most certainly not a good choice for president of the USA, and every opportunity should be taken to dis him, but to threaten his life in a public forum is the height of idiocy, especially for a non-citizen. What did he think would happen? Emadeldin Elsayed should be deported for gross stupidity! |
Posted on 4th February 2016 |
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I imagine that public opinion is very divided, in the case reported in this BBC story. Sir Harry Djanogly (a millionaire, although I am not sure why the BBC deems that relevant) was pulled over by the police for speeding. He was speeding because he was rushing his wife to hospital, believing her life to be in danger. The report does not clarify what the hospital's diagnosis was, or whether her life was actually in danger, but legally, it is her husband's belief that her life was at risk that is relevant, not her actual state of health. Sir Harry explained (twice) to the police officer the reason for him speeding, and invited the officer to follow him to the hospital. The policeman then ordered him out of the car, and when Sir Harry refused, lunged through the driver's window (apparently dislodging the driver's foot foot from the brake onto the accelerator and getting dragged down the road, for his trouble). For me, the legal situation seems quite clear: the policeman, by preventing the wife reaching the hospital, is committing assault and actual bodily harm (potentially grievous bodily harm and even attempted murder) against her; his action in lunging through the car window adds assault against the driver to his count of offences. Sgt Robert McDonald should be charged for these offences. The police are required to act within the law. They are also required to listen to and take into account the information provided by the members of the public whom they deal with. That doesn't seem to have happened in this case, and an example needs to be made; the alternative puts the UK on a slippery slope to becoming a police state. Still, Sir Harry Djanogly should be thankful that he doesn't live in the USA. In this scenario, a US policeman would probably have shot him. |
Posted on 28th Februaryx 2016 |
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I had to laugh when I read this BBC story (although I suppose it really isn't funny). Germany has managed to lose around 130,000 "asylum seekers" (we are not supposed to call them refugees). When you remember that Germany is one of the most bureaucratic countries in the world ("Your papers are not in order!"), it is bizarre in the extreme that there are migrants who don't have papers at all, and others who apparently have more than one set of papers. Even so, losing 130,000 people is more than just careless. I am tempted to contrast this present-day situation with last century in Germany, but I guess that would be politically incorrect. |
Posted on 27th February 2016 |
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I was really shocked by the contrast in people's attitudes, highlighted by this story, and this story, on the BBC. In the first report, a £250,000 reward has been offered to track down the killers of a much-loved goose, known as Grumpy Gertie, which was shot in the village of Sandon, Hertfordshire. The second report describes how a three-year-old boy was found after spending three days alone with the body of his mother. Now he has no-one to care for him, so "friends have collected more than £3,400 towards the dead mother's funeral costs and in aid of her son". What is wrong with people's priorities, that they think that a quarter of a million is an appropriate amount to catch a goose-killer, but a few thousand is enough to care for a boy and bury his mother? The English do have a history of caring more for certain breeds of animals than for people (getting upset about some Asian nations where they eat dogs, angry at the French and Belgians because they eat horses, and incensed at the treatment of donkeys in Spain, to name but a few), but this is getting ridiculous. |
Posted on 27th February 2016 |
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It seems that the state of Texas has gone mad: they have passed a law there allowing guns to be carried on university campuses. A Dean at the University of Texas, Frederick Steiner, is resigning because of this new legislation, (as reported in this BBC story) because he feels that it is not "appropriate" for higher education and does not "make logical sense"; he doesn't want to be be responsible for enforcing a law in which he doesn't believe. Good for you, Fred! Given how much Texans love their guns, however, I suppose there is nothing to be done: the atrocities will happen, friends and family will mourn and demand changes to the law, but the gun lobby will yet again win the argument; claiming that more guns make us all safer. Common sense and hard fact will once again lose out to propaganda and lobbying by special interest groups. A thought occurs to me, though. Maybe this will make it easier for the less intelligent students at UT to get a degree. Maybe all that will be necessary to get a degree will be to survive the whole course without getting shot. |
Posted on 21st February 2015 |
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I was rather bemused by this story in the Telegraph. It described how the UK MoD (Ministry of Defence) is to buy two new solar powered Zephyr 8 spy planes from Airbus Defence and Space for £10.6m. The report describes how this new plane flies so high ‘that it is described as a “pseudo satellite” ’. Seriously! The operating height is reported as 70,000 feet (although it could be a little more, and being kept secret). 70,000 was the ceiling height of the U2, built from 1955. On the Wikipedia page about the U2, it (at the time of writing) states “In 1984, during a major NATO exercise, Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant Mike Hale intercepted a U-2 at a height of 66,000 feet (20,100 m), where the aircraft had previously been considered safe from interception. Hale climbed to 88,000 feet (26,800 m) in his Lightning F3“. This was apparently only one of many such interceptions (the Wikipedia page has recently been edited to remove much of the detail about these). I first heard about one of these interceptions in 1982 or earlier, so the statement in the Wikipedia page that, in 1984, "the aircraft had previously been considered safe from interception" is clearly not true. Nevertheless, the upshot is that the The U2 was in range for Lightnings, and probably other interceptors of the time, and was proven to be in range for Russian missiles when Gary Powers was shot down. I really don’t see how new spy planes with 1955 performance, able to be detected, intercepted and shot down decades ago, are a good investment by the MoD. These planes certainly don’t earn the label “pseudo satellite”. True, they will be solar powered and able to stay aloft for “weeks on end”, but otherwise the basic performance is 60 years out of date! |
Posted on 21st February 2016 |
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I am getting thoroughly demoralised by the constant stream of so-called news about the US presidential election. Candidates are still campaigning for their party’s nominations; the actual election campaigning hasn’t even started, but I am, already sick of it. One of the least offensive articles that I have read recently about the US presidential election was this piece in The Economist, which bemoans how the fight is turning ugly, and the established order of things in US elections has been overturned. The trouble is that American elections have always been broken: the process is undemocratic, and votes are decided by personalities and budgets rather than policies. Campaigns have always been dirty and disconnected from reality; it’s just that they are getting even more so. The USA is the world’s champion of democracy, and has encouraged it in, exported it to, or forced it upon, many nations around the world. Democracy is not a silver bullet that will solve all ills: for the proof, just look at what is happening in countries that were part of the Arab Spring (Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt) and in countries which were invaded to install democratic governments (Iraq and Afghanistan). Also, an important lesson not yet taken on board by Western governments: one size of democracy clearly does not fit all. What annoys me, however, is that the main champion of democracy is a nation whose own democracy is highly questionable. What is so special about the people in Iowa (and to a lesser extent in New Hampshire) that qualifies them to have more of an influence on the choice of president than other Americans? For many elected posts, the USA also has a first-past-the-post system, as does Britain, which many other nations consider inherently undemocratic, and then there is that bizarre electoral college system which means that the candidate with the most votes does not necessarily win the election. Another thing that is not the answer to all problems is the free market. Free market forces create competition, and as a result US society, business and politics are all more competitive than most other people ever experience. Allowing big money into such a competitive election process pretty much guarantees excess, prejudiced rhetoric, and dirty campaigns. I don’t actually know whether Donald Trump believes and will deliver on all of the promises that he has made during his election, but it seems that if you don’t behave and speak similarly (always against something or someone, and always to excess) then you can’t win the election. Many countries have their share of weirdos and idiots standing for election (Britain has the Monster Raving Loony Party), but amongst Western nations, the USA is unique in that there a serious chance of the nut-job actually getting to run the county. Maybe a coalition of truly democratic nations should invade the USA and install a truly democratic system. The problem with that idea (apart from the tiny issue of America’s military might and economic influence) is finding a nation that can honestly claim to be truly democratic. My number one candidate is Switzerland; if you know of any other nation that can claim that title, I would love to hear about it. |
Posted on 21st February 2016 |
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Over the last few months my fiancée has been suffering with a lot of allergy problems. As a result, she had a 5 day stay in hospital at the beginning of December, and now has to carry an epi-pen, some oral medicine and a letter explaining what to do in an emergency, at all times. She has not been truly well since the middle of November, and occasionally has outbreaks: usually just hives on her skin, but sometimes also swollen lips. She had an attack with a swollen lip just a few days ago, and went to a pharmacy to get more medicine. She looked so bad that the pharmacist recommended she go to the hospital, which she didn't want to do for fear they would keep her in for another 5 day stay. Instead, she went to a doctor with a consulting room opposite the pharmacy, recommended by the pharmacist. The doctor was a very sympathetic lady; it was just a shame that she was so stupid and ignorant. Her only recommendation for allergy problems was some herbal supplements to boost Sheryl's immune system. There are two problems with that suggestion: recent research shows that so-called immune boosters don't work, but if they did, that is the exact opposite of what a person with allergy problems needs. Allergies are the result of your immune system attacking otherwise harmless substances (food, skin products, cleaning products, etc.) as if they were harmful invading organisms, and boosting the immune system will only make the problem worse. This web-page suggests some treatments for allergies and, unsurprisingly, immune boosters do not feature, I sometimes wonder how some medical practitioners get licences to practice, and how they manage to keep their licences. |
Posted on 18th November 2015 |
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This article in The Guardian is very interesting. The argument is very simple: the costs of carbon pollution (illness and death due to carbon pollution, global warming causing reductions in agricultural productivity, damage due to floods and storms, rising sea levels, increasing incidence of pests and diseases, etc.) are a good enough reason reason to do something about carbon emissions. The costs of not doing anything, or not doing enough, will be far greater than the costs of reducing our carbon footprint. Personally, I think there are already enough arguments (moral, environmental, and quality of life) on the table to make it unarguable that we need to act, but having more arguments is even better. |
Posted on 28th February 2016 |
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There has been lots of news recently about the continuing migrant issue in Germany (and elsewhere, but that is for another day). This BBC report gives some useful statistics about migration. There were the sex attacks in Cologne (Köln) and other German cities on New Year's Eve, in which migrants were implicated. There were riots at a migrant centre between different groups of migrants. There have been protests and riots at migrant centres, including fires, as Germans try to prevent migrants in their towns. There was an attack on pensioners on the Munich underground (captured on video) who intervened to stop a sex attack by migrants (in this Telegraph article). There have been heart-rending stories about the suffering of the migrants (being unable to bring their families to join them, being unable to find work, and having to deal with the cold weather when they have unsuitable clothing). There was a report about the situation for migrants in Germany being so bad that many were deciding to go back home. One migrant said, in an interview, that he was going to go home to his family, but not tell them he was coming; just knock on the door and surprise them. This does not match the image in the minds of many Westerners, of people in Syria sleeping in bombed-out ruins, moving every few days to stay away from the battles, and having no food and water. This returning migrant was fully confident that his family would be where they had been when he left, and he was not the only one with this confidence. The other thing that struck me was that the majority of migrants interviewed seemed to be planning to fly home. So, they are not broke then; they might have come to Germany via Greece or the Balkans, and walked a lot of the way, but that was only as a way of bypassing immigration controls, not because they were too poor to fly. This fits with the other strange fact: that most of the migrants are adult males. Although the press have highlighted the women and children amongst the migrants, there are actually not many of them. Photos of large groups of migrants show this clearly: the families stayed at home. This shows that the majority of migrants are economic migrants, not refugees, similar, for example, to the large numbers of Indians and Filipinos working in other countries and sending money home. What bothers me about all this is the fact that the world's press is feeding us propaganda about the motivation and demographic mix of the migrants. I hate people trying to manipulate me with propaganda! It turns out that a lot of the stories about migrants in Germany are hoaxes, as described and mapped in this article from Deutsche Welle. Let me be absolutely clear here: I have sympathy for the migrants, and do think that the West should welcome them, but my sympathy is reduced when they, with the collusion of our press, lie about their true motives and their situation in their home country. |
Posted on 15th January 2016 |
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This BBC story is one of the more recent of many about encryption and encryption back-doors. The Dutch government says that it will not force technology firms to provide back-door access to encrypted data such as emails and instant messaging. I like their attitude, but it is in direct contradiction to government policy in the USA and UK. FBI director James Comey said in November "We are not some kind of maniacs who are ideologues against encryption … but we have a problem that encryption is crashing into public safety and we have to figure out, as people who care about both, how to resolve it." It seems clear that the FBI has concluded that, in a contest between privacy and public safety, public safety wins. Proposals on the table to solve the FBI's dilemma include the outlawing of very strong encryption and back door access for security agencies. Outlawing very strong encryption will ensure that security agencies can crack the encryption, but that also means that criminal organisations, foreign governments, and even terrorists can also crack it. Back door access for security agencies will probably mean that other nations (Russia and China, for example) will be granted such access; plus, given the appalling track record of security agencies (even in the US and UK) in keeping secrets and being hacked, it is only a matter of time until these back-door access channels also leak out to the various other kinds of bad guys. So no, neither of these proposals work for me. People sometimes ask me why I am so concerned about my privacy: what is it that I have to hide? Actually, at the moment, I have no great secrets, and put a lot of my life in public view on this site and on social media. That, however, might change: if there is a change in my political environment (e.g. a totalitarian government), then it might be that my privacy becomes a life or death issue for me. One thing that I can and will do, if legislation erodes my privacy even further, is to choose who has data about me. If Facebook, LinkedIn and Microsoft can’t keep my data secret because of legal constraints, or even for their own purposes, I will do what I can to ensure they have no data about me, including ceasing to be their customer if necessary. |
Posted on 15th January 2016 |
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According to recent statistics, quite a lot of you have Windows 10. If so, you should be aware that Microsoft is spying on you. This BBC report give some idea of what data is being collected. The good thing is that you can opt out of pretty much all of the data collection (tracking) when you install Windows 10, and when you install Microsoft applications such as MS-Office. If you want to preserve your privacy, you should opt out: set the feedback option to Basic, so that activity data is not sent to Microsoft – except for error reports. The default is for the O/S to track a whole lot of things about usage and send details back to Microsoft. Also, if you are concerned about the performance of your system, and limiting the future effects of software bloat, you should opt out. All that tracking creates a load on your computer (CPU, RAM and disc), which will increase as updates to your system are applied, and it generates Internet traffic that could cause problems on slower connections. |
Posted on 10th January 2016 |
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People seem to be surprised by this (reported in this BBC report). They shouldn't be. It is a result of how Google Translate works. There were complaints that Google Translate was translating "Russia" to "Mordor", Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's surname to "sad little horse" and "Russians" to "occupiers". Apparently this has now been "fixed", but I suspect that there will be more such cases in the future. Google translate was created using stochastic (statistical analysis) methods. It was fed with huge volumes of documents which had been translated into a number of languages (the original documents were from the EU, where most documents are translated into all the languages of the member states). Since then it has been fed with other translated sets of documents, many from social media and has learned from those users of Google Translate who take the time to suggest improved translations. One point to note from this is that Google Translate has no idea of the meaning of what it translates. If a lot of its source material translates "Russia" to "Mordor", the software will believe that this is a valid translation, and will not understand the insult. The other point to note is the part that social media plays in providing learning material for Google Translate. In some ways this is good, in that the software is able to keep up with evolution in language use, can learn about slang and dialect, and is able to cope with text that is not grammatically correct or complete. In other ways this is not so good, such as this case, where viral social media content can warp the software's knowledge base and produce incorrect translations. People need to understand how the tools that they use work, so that they understand their limitations and potential bias. I use Google Translate quite often, and sometimes I have to spend a lot of time and effort to get a good translation (translating forward and backwards, and adjusting the words and grammar of the starting text to give me a suitable result); sometimes even that fails, and I have to translate using other methods. Of course, Google Translate could be improved. What I would like is to be able to tell the software that a certain word or phrase is the subject or the object, that certain elements form a list, that certain words form a noun or verb phrase, and to force the translation of a certain word to a particular translated word (which is possible) and have the grammar of the translated sentence updated accordingly (which is not possible). I am sure that this functionality will be included in the future, hopefully soon. |
Posted on 10th January 2016 |
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This (as reported in this BBC story) is the kind of nonsense that makes me mad. The report is about how the Commons Women and Equalities committee is pressing the case to have a person's gender declared "not relevant" and removed from official documents such as passports and driving licences. The argument is that it creates an "unconscious bias" in job applications. Although I am generally not a fan of the way that political correctness is warping our language, I do understand that there are cases where common terminology can cause insult or even bias. Having said that, can we please have a bit of common sense about the matter! Passports and driving licences exist to prove people's identity. They need to give some basic information (in addition to a photograph) to allow other people to confirm that a passport or driving licence belongs to the person in question. Gender is a reasonable component of that basic identification information. Just like hair colour, eye colour, height and age, the information might be a little confusing: people can dye their hair or wear a wig, wear coloured contact lenses, wear high-heeled shoes, look younger than they are due to make-up or surgery, and dress as, or actually be, a different gender than is stated on the ID. That, however, is not a reason for removing information that does actually help to identify people in most cases. If gender identification on ID documents is causing bias against job applicants, then the problem is not with the ID documents, but with the demand that ID be provided for job applications. I am not against people who occupy the gender middle-ground. I have met many transgender and transvestite people, and worked with some, and I don't have any issue with them. I have no wish to insult them, but that doesn't free them from the normal obligations to be identifiable when needed. Maybe what is needed is one or more new gender definitions for use on ID documents, which specify the gender in a non-insulting way that is still useful for identification: maybe "TBD" for people in the process of gender reassignment, "Male (as Female)" and "Female (as Male)" for people who sometimes dress as the other gender. The people who do not conform to the classic norms of our society are nevertheless a part of our society, and more and more of them are no longer hiding their true selves away from public gaze. I fully approve of this trend. I absolutely disapprove of the unfounded reactionary prejudice that such people are sometimes met with, but screwing up our language in the name of political correctness is not the answer. Prejudice needs to be addressed properly, in schools, through role models, in advertising, etc. |
Posted on 10th January 2016 |
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Finally the world seems to be waking up to the fact that people who do not vaccinate their kids, or themselves, are a health risk to the rest of us, and that there are things that we can do about it. This story on Forbes is mainly a tirade against a US doctor who is a proponent of holistic medicine, but it refers to a decision by one of our largest summer camps in the USA that all staff and campers must be fully immunised to attend camp next summer. About time too. In related news, the Australian government has decided to stop welfare payments to parents who refuse to vaccinate their children (from April 2015); and California now requires most schoolchildren to be vaccinated against diseases including measles and whooping cough (from June 2015). I think there is more such legislation and business policy to come. I know that there are tens of thousands (maybe more) of people around the world (but mainly in the civilised and healthy West) who complain that this is impinging on parents' rights to make decisions about the health of their children. There are two kinds of replies:
If you are a parent who has chosen not to vaccinate your children, then know this: if me or mine are made ill (or even die) because of your choice, you will be sued, criminally charged, and run the risk of losing custody of your children. I am not the only person who will hold you responsible. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! |
Posted on 11th November 2016 |
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There has been a lot of discussion in the press in recent months about the costs, and cost-effectiveness, of the NHS. During the campaign for the Brexit referendum, there were totally fictitious figures bandied about on how much money Brexit would save, and how any savings could be ploughed into the NHS. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen. There have also been some stories about treatments that the NHS will, and will not, pay for. In this report from The Guardian is a story about a cancer treatment, costing £15,624 per month, which they will not pay for, on the grounds of "cost-effectiveness". Admittedly, £15,624 a month is a lot of money, but even so. it is a life-saving treatment. There is also this story in The Guardian which describes a new drug for treating cancer. The new drug is currently only available for very specific cases (affecting about 300 patients), while the NHS assesses its cost-effectiveness. There have been other recent news stories also mentioning cost-effectiveness as the basis of deciding whether the NHS pays for drugs and other treatments. I have written a large number of cost/benefit cases, which are the basis of any analysis of cost-effectiveness, and I know that you need two basic elements: the cost, and the financial value of the benefit. In the case of medical treatments, the financial value of the benefit is the value of a life, or the value of improvements in quality of life and savings on other care costs that may be saved, and any such financial value is inherently subjective. So, what I would dearly like to know is what value does the NHS and the UK government place on a human life, and how did they decide on this value? They must have settled on a number, otherwise they could not possibly do a cost-effectiveness analysis (although I suppose they could be lying about doing such analyses). I suspect that they have a financial amount in mind, and that the value they have decided on is so low that there would be a public outcry if it became widely known. I think that the public have a right to know, and that there should be an open debate on whether it is reasonable and fair. |
Posted on 18th November 2015 |
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The topic of this BBC report Gary Powers, is very much in the news at the moment because of the movie "Bridge of Spies". The thrust of the report is that Gary Powers, pilot of the USA's U2 spy plane which was shot down over Russia, was rather hard done by. When he returned home after being swapped for Soviet spy Vilyam Fisher (also known as Rudolf Abel), the American public felt he had betrayed his country (apparently he should have ensured that the U2 was destroyed, and the committed suicide), despite having followed his orders to the letter. I feel sympathy for Gary Powers. It is all to easy to be labelled as a traitor by the fickle American public. That, however, is not the reason for this post. What really concerns me is the blatant disregard for known facts, and the blind faith showed by the US military and the CIA in the supposed superiority of American technology. The CIA knew, long before Gary Powers flew his doomed mission, that the U2 was not as out of sight and out of reach as they claimed. When the U2 was still being tested over West Germany, before being put into active service, it was spotted by the British RAF, and buzzed from above by a flight of lightnings. This was done several times, as part of a series of RAF trials. The simple fact that it was detected blows a huge hole in the myth of the U2 being out of sight, and made it highly likely that the Russians would see it too. The U2 did indeed fly above the official ceiling height of all other known military aircraft at the time (the RAF lightnings flew a parabolic arc from a much lower altitude to be able to come at the U2 from above, as they were also unable to maintain that altitude), but everyone keeps the performance specifications of their latest aircraft secret, so there was no basis to be so cocky about the U2's immunity from threats; it was probably in range for air-to-air missiles as well as ground-to-air missiles, and possibly also able to be hit by guns on Russian aircraft using the same trick as the RAF lightnings used. One has to wonder, did the CIA set poor Gary Powers up for a fall, by sending him on a mission that they knew was doomed to failure? |
Posted on 29th December 2015 |
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I was completely gob-smacked by parts of this report from the BBC. The report described how Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is donating money for medical research "to make amends". To make amends for what, you may well ask. It seems that the luxurious apartment, overlooking St. Peter's Square, in which he lives, was renovated with funds (€200,000) which came from the Bambino Gesu Foundation, a charity which collects donations for a children's hospital in Rome. Originally, the Cardinal claimed that he paid for the renovation himself, but it turns out that is not the case. To make amends, Cardinal Bertone has donated €150,000 to the charity because the affair had "damaged our hospital and our foundation". He said he would reimburse the money "in instalments from his savings and from contributions for charity that had been made to him over the years". Presumably, his statement implies that if the cause from which he received the funds were not so deserving, he would not feel the need to "make amends". Several things about this story jar with me. Firstly, he denies any wrongdoing. He says the payments are a "a voluntary donation", "... not reimbursement, because I personally haven't done any damage". I have looked at this from several perspectives, and I can only characterise the issue as either theft or corruption, which would certainly be considered "damage" in most jurisdictions. Secondly, the amount of the donation (€150,000) does not cover the original questionable sum (€200,000). Does he think the apology covers the remaining €50,000? What about interest? Finally, he is paying back the money from where?! From "his savings and from contributions for charity that had been made to him over the years". So, let me just get that straight: he is paying back money that he stole from a charity, with other money that he was given to pass on to charities (and didn't pass on, so he stole that too). How does Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone think this is OK? How does the Roman Catholic Church think this is OK? Why was the journalist who wrote this piece not onto this like a dog on a rabbit? No wonder that he has such a huge grin on his face, in the photo in the BBC article. |
Posted on 18th November 2015 |
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This interesting article from The Gaurdian highlights some worrying blinkered thinking by many people. In the piece, Stan Grant points out the fallacy of the statement, echoed many times in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks: "Now we're at war!". As he so powerfully describes, we have been at war since at least 9/11. The reason why so many westerners have not understood that we are at war is because attacks in the west are sporadic, because of the degree of our security and anti-terrorist intelligence activity. The majority of terrorist attacks are against Muslims: "The American government’s National Counter-Terrorism Centre estimates that up to 97% of terrorism fatalities are Muslims." This is the nub of the problem: most westerners see terrorism as an internal problem of, and in, the Muslim world. So, not our problem, apparently. To paraphrase protesters in the USA, "Muslim lives matter!" Well now, with the Paris attacks, this tunnel vision is biting us in the arse (again). I have worked in a number of Muslim countries (Tanzania, Indonesia and Malaysia). I have several Muslim friends. I can say without a shadow of doubt that Muslims are in general good people. The problem is not the religion of Islam itself: Islamic State (aka ISIS) does not have a sound religious basis for how it governs and wages war. The Koran itself is very clear about killing being a sin. There have been major terrorist campaigns in other parts of the world: the Baader Meinhof Group, now stamped out by strong policing, the republicans in Northern Ireland, now much less active, the FARC in Colombia, now in the process of negotiating peace, and others. These campaigns did a lot of harm, and were not easy to stop, but the difference was that the public saw them as our problem. The British government was spending £4 billion per year on anti-terrorist "policing" in Northern Ireland, for years! The public do not seem convinced (except maybe for short periods, or in relation to very specific threats such as Osama bin Laden) that the threat posed by radical Muslim terrorism is our problem. Until they do, it will not be solved. Experience should by now have taught us all that terrorism must be fought all fronts, in order to have a good chance of success. Not only must we apply policing and intelligence capabilities, but we also need to address the propaganda that radicalises people to become terrorists; we need to cut off supplies of money and weapons; and we need to work to resolve the poverty and injustice that drives people into the arms of terrorist organisations. This is not rocket science, and most anti-terrorist experts would give you exactly the same list of action items. The problem is not that the experts do not know what to do; the problem is that the public does not yet accept that it is our problem, and therefore there is no public commitment to the necessary remedial actions. Our politicians are weak, cowardly and obsessed with re-election; they are not likely to bite the bullet until the public are on board. So, Muslim (and other) terrorism is our problem, which means that it my problem and your problem. You know what to do! |
Posted on 18th November 2015 |
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What an awesome example of hypocrisy from conservative anti-gun-control radio host Erick Erickson, reported in this short piece from Salon. Also, what an excellent headline: "Erick Erickson soils himself"! Erick Erickson believes that "The best gun control in this country is an armed, honest citizenry who can shoot straight ... Instead of gun-free zones, we should allow law abiding, concealed carry permit holders to go where they wish with their guns." But not when it’s him that's at risk: he will not go to the cinema to see the new Star Wars movie on opening weekend because "there are no metal detectors in American theaters [sic]." There is little hope for a nation (the USA) when the people listen to, and allow their opinions to be influenced by, such shallow and hypocritical thinking: thinking with the absence of thought! I guess the influence that he has is a symptom of the sickness of the "cult of celebrity", which permeates US politics and public life. It doesn't matter how prejudiced, stupid and uneducated someone is; if they are famous for whatever reason, the public swoon at their pronouncements, irrespective of how patently wrong they may be. Thankfully, this public disease is rather less prevalent in Europe; I hope that doesn't change. |
Posted on 14th November 2015 |
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In many ways, I am a huge fan of Linux. My servers run Ubuntu Linux, as does one of my laptops. I like that fact that you never get an update of any software without first agreeing to it (unlike Windows). I also like the fact that you have complete control of the configuration, that much of the software that you need is free and most can be customised because it is open-source. Canonical, the company that provides Ubuntu Linux, generally seems professional. Ubuntu Linux is free, with free updates for the LTS (Long-Term Support) versions for 5 years. Canonical make their money from paid support for commercial users. I like this business model. Having said that, I am very unhappy about the latest Ubuntu upgrade, to version 14.04, which I applied to my main server on Thursday (12/11/2015). Certainly, the latest operating system, and the updated applications that came with it, are better (bugs are fixed, the GUI is faster and more responsive). There are, however, a number of related issues regarding firewalling. For various sound reasons, I have a fairly complicated network topology at home, both my real physical network, and virtual (soft) networking within my main server. This means that my firewall configuration is also complex. Until now I had managed this complexity using a firewall configuration GUI program called Firestarter, one of a number of such tools that were available for Ubuntu Linux (the other popular tool was called Shorewall). Firewall functionality is included in Linux (in "ip-tables"), but configuring it via the command-line is complex and error-prone, even for simple network topologies, which is why I used Firestarter. I admit that I made a mistake when upgrading. I was prompted to choose whether to delete obsolete packages, and clicked "yes" without properly checking the list of 200 packages. Firestarter was one of those which is now obsolete, and not available for re-installation. This would not have been a problem, if Canonical had also remembered to migrate the configuration in ip-tables (in the same way that they need to migrate user-accounts, group accounts, printer set-up, file-system set-up and exports, etc.) to the new operating system. Instead, I found myself with a server running the default firewall configuration, which is fine for a workstation or laptop, but utterly useless for a server. My web-site was down, and all my local services (file sharing, printing, etc.) were not accessible. When I checked the available software packages, I discovered that there are no longer any firewall configuration GUI programs available for Ubuntu 14.04: they have all become obsolete. I found myself with two choices: either configure ip-tables directly from the command-line, or use a program call 'ufw' (Unix FireWall - also a command line program). Of course, neither option is supported by adequate documentation. It took me hours of trial and error work to get everything working as it was before the upgrade. All of that time and effort because the company couldn't be bothered, or forgot, to migrate a set of configuration tables. It also calls into question exactly how much testing is done on new operating system versions. When you do an Ubuntu upgrade (from one operating system version to another), you also usually get new versions of applications and utilities: updates which were not released for the older operating system). So far I have run afoul of two of these. The first was a change in how services are started/stopped/restarted: previously there were two ways to do this; I had an automation script using the method which has now been disabled, which rather interfered with my testing of my new firewall configuration. The second was a bug in the program that I am using to write this: Bluefish (an advanced context sensitive editor). Bluefish had a bug which caused it to crash immediately after starting it; this bug was fixed quite a while ago, but the fixed version wasn't added to the online software repositories (so not possible to easily download and install it) until this morning. I do hope that I have now found all of the bugs added with this version of Ubuntu. I also hope that Canonical listen to the complaints, and up their game for future releases. |
Posted on 11th November 2015 |
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I wrote recently (here) complaining about the security risks created by Adobe software (in that case, Adobe Flash Payer). Now I am complaining about Adobe PDF Reader. For a while Sheryl was complaining about not being able to print PDF documents from her laptop (running Window 8.1) to the printer attached to my Linux server. I then discovered that I had the same problem printing from my own Windows 7 machine. I spent quite a long time investigating postings on various forums about similar problems, and fiddling with my print server settings to resolve the problem, and finally I found out what the problem was. The problem was with Adobe PDF Reader, which seemed totally unable to print to my Linux print server (I assume that it was still able to print to locally attached printers, and also to Windows print servers, but did not test this). At some point, Adobe issued a patch which simply broke the remote printing functionality. The fix was simple. I replaced Adobe PDF Reader with another application (PDF XChange Viewer from Tracker Software) and now everything is fine. PDF XChange Viewer has excellent functionality for marking-up PDF documents, has a browser plug-in for viewing documents in the browser, and prints to my Linux print server just fine. The fact that Adobe's software had this bug shows how poor their testing is, and how unprofessional they are. Now I have retired Adobe PDF Reader. I look forward to being able to do the same to Adobe Flash Player (notice to all those web-sites built around Adobe Flash: time to upgrade to HTML5 and get rid of Flash's obsolete and insecure technology!). Of course, Adobe are not the only company foisting off dodgy software on us all. Here are some other examples from my personal experience (there are more, but space and time are limited): EverNote A really useful tool for keeping records of meetings, design notes, to-do lists, etc. The only problem is (or at least was - I retired it so don't know if they fixed it) is that it really hammers the performance of your PC, due to its Internet traffic (synchronising your notes with the cloud). It made my computer unusable. Samsung Kies Allows you to manage music, photos and videos on your mobile phone, and copy or synchronise to/from your PC. Also, it allows you to synchronise your Outlook calendar and address-book with those on your phone. The problem is that it doesn't deal well with multiple email accounts in Outlook - for a very long time I was unable to do any synchronisation with Outlook at all. Now I am able to synchronise, but I still get lots of duplicate entries in Outlook. Samsung make excellent mobile phones, but they can't write PC software that anyone would want to use. Apple Software If you have an Apple device, be it an iPad or an iPhone, you need to have iTunes to manage the music. There are third-party alternatives, but because of the effort that Apple puts into encryption (every new generation of device has new encryption), you have to wait about a year after each new device is launched before the third-party will work with it (generally the third-party companies have to reverse engineer the encryption software and then build it into their products). Also, no matter how often you tell the Apple installer that you do not want iTunes (or QuickTime) to be the default media player, it keeps setting the default application to Apple software. Also, the Safari browser is not a well behaved application. I run it under Windows, and under Wine (a Windows emulation layer in Linux). It crashes, hangs, locks the desktop, and generally misbehaves. It seems that it is not fully compliant with the Microsoft Windows APIs. |
Posted on 3rd November 2015 |
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This story, in Grist, got me thinking. It is about the TPP (the Trans-Pacific Partnership), which Europe will not be a part of - not to be confused with the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), which will include Europe. The main thrust of the report, which is clear in its title, is that the TPP is evil (much the same is being said of the TTIP), but the thing which struck me was the statement that "It was top-secret for years", although New Zealand has just published the text of the agreement online, ahead of the agreed date. The reason why the author of the story claims the TPP is evil is because of its lack of environmental safeguards. The wording about environmental protection is all about trying to do good things, rather than any ironclad commitments. Whilst this has always been the case for trade agreements, the public are becoming more concerned about the environment, and the condition that it will be in for following generations, and there is an expectation that environmental protection will be better in new treaties, and the relevant clauses will have more teeth. This, I suspect, is the reason for all the secrecy until now. If the voting public do not know what is being negotiated, it is rather difficult to lobby against it. Too many powerful groups and individuals have a vested interest in getting the TPP approved. I can sympathise with the need to keep some international treaties and agreements secret: things like intelligence sharing and cooperation on military R&D. I also understand that you probably do not want your negotiating position undermined by publishing every detail of a treaty before it is agreed. The issue that delayed publication creates, however, is giving enough time for informed public debate after the negotiation is complete. If a trade agreement takes 7 years to negotiate, as is the case for the TPP, then a proper independent analysis and public discussion of the results needs to be given more than a year, but it seems that the approval plan for TPP does not allow that amount of time (President Obama wants to get the TPP signed and approved before his term in office is over). |
Posted on 19th July 2019 |
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Donald Trump shocked many people, both within and outside the USA, recently, with his tweets about how members of "The Squad" (Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib) should go back to where they came from, as reported here, by the BBC. There was one grain of truth in what Trump said: that the women "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe". Since three of the four come from the USA, Old Yeller's criticism (of his own government) is absolutely correct. He attempted to defend himself from accusations of racism, saying that "I don't have a racist bone in my body!". Leaving aside the small issue that it is unclear if he has any bones at all in his body, due to the ample covering of fat, his protestations remind me of a phrase that I have heard before. Any readers who have been to South Africa, or who have white South African friends, have probably heard sentences which start with "You understand, I'm not a racist, but ....." This got me thinking. Is it entirely unthinkable that the retard president might try to introduce apartheid in the USA? |
Posted on 8th May 2016 |
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Do the police in Britain really think that people are so stupid? This story in the Independent reports that the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) believes that “a government agency would be better equipped to take on the role” of prosecuting animal cruelty cases. Currently the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) prosecutes 80% of all animal cruelty cases. Well here’s my take on the situation. The police are perfectly able to prosecute animal cruelty cases, so why don’t they do so more often. The public are bound to assume that the reason is that the police don’t care enough about animal cruelty. The police might rightly argue that they have other priorities, so why prevent the RSPCA from doing it. What I suggest is that the RSPCA be allowed to continue doing an excellent job protecting animals, a subject dear to the hearts of most Brits, and the police work on convincing us that they can do the job just as well (or even better). When the police prosecutions are above 50% of all animal cruelty cases, then we can revisit the matter. In the meantime, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”! |
Posted on 16th May 2018 |
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Quite some time ago (July 2013) I wrote about how there are no such things as the laws of science (here). I explained that science provides us with a set of models which approximately describe how the physical world will behave in various circumstances. I was very disparaging about the author of the article in question. Imagine my surprise, then, when I read this report on the Mother Nature Network, which contains a quote by Albert Einstein, in a letter to German physicist Max Born: "I am quite convinced that someone will eventually come up with a theory whose objects, connected by laws, are not probabilities but considered facts, as used to be taken for granted until quite recently". Einstein is considered to be one of the greatest scientists in history, and it was a real shock to me to discover that he, apparently, did not properly understand something so fundamental about the nature of science, his career and area of expertise. It seems that even our heroes are flawed. |
Posted on 12th April 2019 |
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This post is a copy of an item from my News Blog. I got home tonight just after mid-night (so technically the 13th, not the 12th) after a nightmare journey home, thanks to KLM. I was booked on the 18:40 from Schiphol to Munich, and arrived at the airport, already with a boarding pass after checking in online, 35 minutes before the last time that I could check my luggage in: 17:59, which should have been plenty of time . My bag is too big for hand-luggage, and contained several toiletry items that exceeded the 100ml limit, so checking it in for transport in the hold was my only option. It took about 4 minutes to reach the queue to check my bag. I then queued for 20 minutes, and the machine issued me a baggage tag at precisely 17:48 (confirmed by the woman at KLM's ticket desk). Unfortunately, the machine refused to take my bag, and with no explanation, told me to go to the service desk, where I queued for another 20 minutes, by when it was too late to check my bag. I was sent to the ticket desk to rebook my flight. At the ticket desk, only 2 of the six desks were open, so I had to queue for another 25 minutes. The lady at the desk told me that it was all my fault, because I hadn't arrived at the airport 2 hours before my flight. She rebooked me onto the 21:00 flight to Munich. She also told me that, because, in her opinion, it was my fault, she should charge me a rebooking fee, and that she was doing me a favour my not doing so. Firstly, the arrival 2 hours before the flight is only meant to be in cases where you still need to check-in and get your boarding pass, and I already had a boarding pass. 35 minutes should be plenty of time to check a bag which, although too big for hand-baggage, is actually small for hold luggage and requires no special handling. I checked my bag 11 minutes before the deadline, which proves that I was at the airport early enough. Secondly, at the service desk, when I finally reached the front of the queue, there were still 30 minutes until departure: plenty of time to load a bag. At Munich airport, they would have phoned someone, and been granted an exception to accept a late bag. Finally, the idea that I should have to pay, because of a failure of a machine checking in bags is outrageous. If there had been no other option to fly Friday night, then KLM would not have been prepared to pay for a hotel and dinner, and that would have been all at my expense. As a result of this debacle, the plans that Sheryl and I had, for her to meet me at Munich airport and to have dinner together there, were trashed. My whole evening and my dinner were stolen from me by KLM. I was still raging angry when I got home, and it took quite a while for me to calm down enough to sleep. The purser and once of the stewards on my 9pm flight were very sympathetic to my plight, but couldn't do anything to help; thanks for trying, though, guys. I was forced to eat in Schiphol airport, and that food was disgusting (see my food blog). When I lived in the Netherlands (from 1994 to 1996), I flew KLM often. They were a great airline, but since then things have changed: being taken over by Air France is the cause of much of the deterioration in service. I will certainly be rethinking flying with KLM in future, and will be filing a complaint. |
Posted on 20th February 2019 |
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Martina Navratilova is in trouble for her recent statement about transgender people in sport, as reported by the BBC. A US LGBT group, Athlete Ally, have severed ties with Ms. Navratilova, an 18-times Grand Slam winner, because of her statement in The Sunday Times, that it was "cheating" to allow transgender women to compete in women's sport as they had unfair physical advantages; "I am happy to address a transgender woman in whatever form she prefers, but I would not be happy to compete against her. It would not be fair.". Athlete Ally branded this as transphobic and perpetuating myths, and based on a false understanding of science and data. Athlete Ally seem to be confusing political correctness with science. There are basic differences between the physiology of male and female bodies, which are the reason why, in most sports, men and women do not compete directly: men have a wider natural variation in the ratio of different types of muscle than women, and this ratio is more easily affected by training (and even diet), so that men are better able to optimise their bodies for stamina, speed, or strength. Having sex-change surgery does not affect this variability of muscle-type ratios, and hormone treatment only affects this variability very slowly (over years). So, Ms. Navratilova has the science right; Athlete Ally does not. I am not sure that I would accuse male-to-female transgender sports competitors of deliberately cheating (a sex-change seems to be too drastic for people to do it just to win at sport), but it is most certainly not fair. The world of sport should take Martina's comments seriously, and address this unfairness. If they don't, people may stop watching some sports. |
Posted on 10th January 2019 |
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I was disgusted, although not surprised, when I read this piece on the BBC. The article describes a failed date. The man, a hard-up student, took a woman on a date. Being short of money, he ordered something inexpensive (a beer and pasta carbonara). The woman, on the other hand, ordered a lobster (£28) and an expensive bottle of wine (£70). He, understandably, to my thinking, made her pay for her extravagant meal; he said that he would have happily paid for her meal if she had ordered something more reasonable. She was livid, and in an exchange of messages afterwards (when he was trying to apologise, and make it up to her, by asking her for another, cheaper meal/date) wrote "Gentlemen ALWAYS pay for girl’s food". Excuse me madam, but this is the age of sexual equality (things are not yet equal for the sexes, but we are {most of us, at least} trying to get there). I assume that she probably wants to be treated equally, especially in the workplace, except for paying for meals and vacations, and having the door held open for her by gentlemen. Sorry, but you can't have it both ways. She is behaving as a parasite, pure and simple. I have similar, but not identical, experiences. A few years ago an ex-girlfriend of one of my friends invited me and my girlfriend to meet her potential new boyfriend, a student, to check him out and give her our opinion. The man was not flush with money, but they did at least discuss the issue of her expectations that he pay for everything versus the reality of his financial situation. He argued strongly that she should pay for the date on that occasion, since she had a real job (actually, two jobs) and he didn't; we agreed with him, and she was not pleased by that. A few months later she got in touch again, and invited us to meet another potential new boyfriend, this time over dinner. I should point out to those of you who do not live in Germany, that the use of the word invite (einladen) implies that the inviter will pay, but we knew her well enough not to expect that. This candidate was a struggling actor, so also not flush. He made it clear that he was not interested in any relationship that required him to pay for everything. When the meal was over, I paid for my meal, and my girlfriend's, plus enough tip for all 4 of us, and then went to the toilet. The candidate-boyfriend had made it clear that he would not pay (after all, she had invited him), so she had to pay, which she struggled to do (several credit cards were rejected, and one was cut up by the waiter). The thing that really bothered me was that, not only did she expect that guy to pay, but her fall-back was that I would pay, even though she invited us. I hope that any female readers are getting the message loud and clear: you can't expect to be treated equally when it suits you, and then demand to be treated like helpless damsels when that suits you. Choose one option, and only one, stick with it, and declare it to people you meet, so that they know whether they even want to be friends with you. I am a fairly generous person. I give good tips in restaurants and taxis (I have a rule that, if I give a small, or no, tip, I must explain why), I lend money to friends (in some cases knowing full well that I will never see that money paid back). I repair things for friends, for free. I hold doors open for women (and men) and sometimes pay for their meals and drinks. I do all this and more because I choose to; no-one is going to tell me that it is required of me. New friends are welcome in my life; parasites are not! |
Posted on 16th May 2018 |
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I just had to laugh when I read this report from the BBC. Salma Hayek is telling male movie stars that they should take pay cuts, to improve pay equality between male and female actors. That would be highly laudable, even though the logic is probably flawed, and I have no issue with her motives. The thing that I found amusing was her statement that "You had a good run but it is time now to be generous with the actresses". If they are going to be generous with the actresses, then I will take four, please. I suppose that I should be understanding, given that English is not her first language, and I suspect that, had she written the message rather than speaking it, she would have said "to the actresses". |
Posted on 9th February 2017 |
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I have just returned from a quick shopping trip to Edeka, a supermarket in Germany. I am a little upset. Edeka has a new and efficient system of checkouts. There are moving belts, each staffed by an operator who rings up the items. When that is done, the customer moves to the next stage to pay at a payment terminal. I usually pay with an EC card or a credit card, which is quick, and not prone to errors. Today, I had only a small amount of cash with me, and wanted to use up the coins. The bill was only €2.47, since I had only bought two items plus I had some money back from recycling some bottles. I put €2.50 (a €2 piece, two 20 cent pieces and a 10 cent piece) into the payment terminal. The machine registered the €2 piece as a €1. That meant that I did not have enough change to make up the claimed shortfall, and had to pay (again) with a note, leaving me with a pocket full of change: exactly what I was trying to avoid. I complained, and the manager of the checkouts came over. Basically, she told me that there was nothing to be done, that the automatic payment machines do not make mistakes and if they did the mistakes would show up in the end of day balance checks, which they don't. That last argument seems reasonable, but this has happened to me fairly often in the past, so I am fairly certain that the machines do make mistakes, and/or there is something amiss with their end of day balance checks. It is not as if I mind about a €1 error, and I do accept that sometimes I might make the error, but not today (my change had been counted three times: once before leaving home, once while paying in another shop, and once before paying in Edeka). What bothers me is the attitude of the manager and her apparent absolute trust in her machines and processes: it doesn't matter if I complain because I am just wrong. What I will do from now on is photograph my change using my mobile phone before dumping it into the machine, until I can prove that the machines do make mistakes, and get an apology from the shop. |