He3isthekey

First day of the new year

2012-01-01T11:41:00.000Z

Hello 2012,

Oh well, the first first day of the new year, I wonder how many dictators will die this year?

The British Olympics to look forward to and I will be 63.

2011-11-20T17:49:00.000Z

> When I watch TV I always abide by a very simple rule - I always mute any
> advertisement. I find it enormously insulting that I'm subject to them.
> And US TV is incredibly bad. I'd estimate that up to one half of every
> show is actually advertisements even on 'news' programs, and even the
> 'news' often is just reports on new products, TV shows etc. which are
> disguised advertisements.
>
> It is truly continual attempted mind control...
>
> Edgar

Me too Edgar, I always think the people behind this phenomena break the
'golden rule' 'Do as you would be done by'. The constant repetition is
horrendous, especially with insurance ads. They do not consider the general
public 'one of us', so it is okay to insult our intelligence and moral to try
to brainwash us.

Human culture near world wide, has a big problem, where economics is only seen in terms of money and not about 'resource management'.

Another thing I find infuriating, is hordes of people shoving crap through my
letter box, not addressed to me. I find the waste upsetting in terms of caring about the only planet we have to live on.

The inane drivel talked on the media about jobs and unemployment. The answer is exceedingly simple, define 'work' then share it out. If this was carried out in an efficient manner, I doubt very much whether the entire working population would work more than two days a week.

My definition of 'work' is, the expenditure of energy, to the benefit of
others, that cannot be achieved by machinery and automation.

My definition of the economy is, design it, build it (or grow it) then deliver
it. The rest is information, is it in the right place and is it of the correct
quality? This is achievable via computers and the internet.

In England where the industrial revolution began, the area of an 'acre' was
defined, how big is an acre? Again simple, an acre is about the area of land,
one man with a horse and plough, can work in a day. After the 1st world war
and tractors came on the scene, one man and a tractor could plough around 30 acres a day, so 29 men are out of work, the same principle happened in many different areas of the economy.

Our addiction to the 40 hour week, makes no sense in terms of modern
technology.

The principle by which our economies seem to work, is to get as few people as possible, to do as much work as possible for as little money as possible, not strictly slavery but certainly heading in that direction.

Regards

Peter.

Then this

2011-11-07T20:43:00.000Z

Further musings about what I may have glimpsed nearly 20 years ago. How come the standard model with its great amount of evidence for the four fundamental forces, gives no account for the phenomena that has evolved the ability to hypothesis four fundamental forces in nature?

So I s'pose what I'm trying to suggest is, that life itself is the fifth
fundamental force in the universe.

The fact that life itself has created the 21% oxygen ratio in the atmosphere,
is the kind of thing I'm driving at.

A science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon wrote a mindboggling book that I read many many years ago that sort of started me off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men

Another thinker that crosses the border between science and religion is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin

Regards,

Peter.

A confession

2011-11-07T20:25:00.001Z

I am a writer, I don't just write here, I write in other places on the internet, to name just a few, evolutionary psychology, slashdot, reddit and English Chess forum.

From now on, anything I write on the internet, I will copy to here.

Anyway here is a couple of emails I wrote to EP.

[evol-psych] A fifth force
From: Peter
To: "Evolutionary-Psychology"

It came up on this list the other week the idea of a fifth force.

This has got me thinking, the standard model has four fundamental forces, weak nuclear, strong nuclear, electromagnetic and gravity, granted they have not found evidence yet, for gravity within the atom, I'm given to understand that the search for the Higgs boson is to find that evidence.

So ok they find evidence for the Higgs, but remain ignorant because there is
in fact a fifth force affecting the nature of reality.

This idea hit me back in 1992, whilst delivering a load of biscuits to
Gloucester in my days as a truck driver.

Around that time I had been knocked over by Gleick's book 'Chaos'.

They were reading the bible on the radio, and they read this bit.

Mathew 13.31
The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and
sowed in his field. Which is less than all seeds; but when it is grown, it is
greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heaven come and lodge in the branches thereof
_______________________________________________________________________________

Suddenly the penny dropped, I felt as though I had found the key to our
history. (Blinded by tears I found it hard to see where I was driving.)
I realised the flap of the butterfly's wing and the parable of the mustard
seed

Are both metaphors describing the same dynamic process.

When I learned of Fiegenbaum's constant and how ubiquitous it is in nature and mere dead piles of rock, I glimpsed a whole universe that existed only to the right of the decimal point. For me ever since I started to study biology, the biggest mystery was morphogenesis, I'm given to understand that you could fit all the information necessary with which to create a blue whale on a DVD, how does this miracle of compression occur?

I suspect a clue is in ratios like PI, they say you can discern no pattern in
PI, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Fiegenbaum's constant is the key, the bit that matters is the fractional point
after the 4, the .669 is the magical bit. What if it is possible that because
this constant is inherent in the geometry of our venous architecture, it is also a causal factor in the amazing history of our species.
The fifth force is the fractional part of Fiegenbaum.
For many years, I perceived history to be chaotic, that was 'till I came
across the mathematics of life via the Mandelbrot set.
It is my hypothesis that there is a deep mathematics to evolution based on
irrational fractions, the scary bit is with the realisation that mathematics
has had a hand on the tiller of history.
Regards,
Peter.
http://dollyknot.com/nonlinear/HELLO.html

2011-10-29T14:31:00.001+01:00

Believe it or believe it not, I have a working FrogPad again.
With my FrogPad I can truly touchtype. I'm still not as fast as a two handed touchtyper, but over the years I have got faster.

Problem is I have had many ups and downs with my FrogPads, the reason for this is, altho' the design concept is good, the physical design is not very robust. The first disaster happened with a parrot named Fred who used to live with me, he prised off one of my keys, so I had to send it back to the States to get it repaired, this duly happened.

Then because of my clumsiness I managed to break the USB plug socket, at the back of the pad. The fact that the pad has a separate wire to the keyboard is a design fault. With most non WiFi keyboards, the wire is an integral part of the keyboard. I have had blue tooth, WiFi and Infra-red keyboards and I don't think you can beat the response of a directly wired keyboard.

I have dropped one on the floor which made it stop working, all these problems I have evolved work-rounds to.

For a while replacements were arriving from the States with a manufacturing fault in terms of the connection between the keypad and the electronic board, swapping around boards and keypads got around that one with help from a friend.

Then I discovered to my dismay, a FrogPad has a near total failure rate, with any contact at all with any liquid.

I managed to have one stop working, tried everything I could think of, to remove the very tiny bit of wine that had come in contact with it, to no avail.

Gave up and bought a new one and managed to carry on for ages and ages, then on 16/7/11 I did it again :( spilled the tiniest bit of wine on my FrogPad tried again and again, solvent distilled water you name it, so for around four months, I have been without what I would call a working keyboard.

The subject of this essay is the weird way, one thing leads to another, to sometimes world changing events.

So I gave up with the FrogPad, I can type on a normal keyboard, but with nothing like the fluidity with which I am typing this.

To persevere with one handed touchtyping, I bought an updated version of something that was around in the early eighties called a Microwriter
it works okay, but suffers from an awful keypad and that it has an unnecessary level of complexity, being that it is Infra red, most of all, there is the enormous amount of mental effort it is for me, to remap the finger movements needed to get the characters required, I can do it but find it cumbersome, had I set out off back in 2005, trying to touchtype one handed, with a CyKey I have little doubt I would be using it now despite its horrible rubbery keypad.

The best bit of a story should come at the end of a story, which is, how am able to type to type this on a FrogPad?

I get used to certain implements in my life, and get upset if I have to use a substitute.

I have my favourite teaspoon which I make my tea and eat my soft-boiled egg with, so I made my breakfast this morning as usual, nearing the point where I am to sit down and tuck into its yellow eggy goodness and somehow or other my somewhat errant right arm swung across and knocked my favourite teaspoon flying.

To this moment I have still have not found my errant teaspoon, but in the process of looking for it I found a bag of old FrogPad bits. There was one old bluetooth FrogPad that I had had problems with in the past and it looked in good shape, so I thought why not give it a go, stripped it down, detached the keypad and swapped it with the keypad of my last working FrogPad, viola I'm a writer again.

Gaddafi

2011-10-20T13:10:00.000+01:00

The end of an era

Email to blog

2011-06-22T11:40:00.001+01:00

I've rediscovered the way to email my blog, today is the day after Summer
Solstice, a bit overcast, but not raining. Planning to stay in my caravan the
weekend and try out my satellite dish.

Sorry for the hiatus

2011-04-19T13:45:00.000+01:00

Bit annoyed at myself for not blogging here more. Been reading some of my back posts and have been reminded of stuff going back five years, I think I stopped because of sad stuff happening. Like losing Fred my parrot. Oh well hope he found a nice new home and didn't get eaten by a cat or something.

I am at that point of the year where I watch the world snooker championships at Sheffield I've been watching it now for 34 years I can clearly remember Watching John Spencer the first year it was televised and marvelling at the way he could control the cue ball. Now I watch for the window into psychology it gives me. The other reason I enjoy it is, I can sort of half watch it and do other things at the same time. Enjoyed watching Ronnie O'Sullivan yesterday vintage!

Chaos

2010-01-12T19:29:00.009Z

Hello,

In 1963 a new math and science was born, called in my estimation somewhat pejoratively 'chaos theory' I prefer the term 'non linear dynamics'.

One scary aspect of this new understanding, is we now know that of the future, is the impossibility of any prediction of what the weather will do.

The weather at the present is rather scary, because it is world wide, if what I'm scared of is actually in the process of unstoppably happening, well welcome to the next ice-age.

We know of the Atlantic conveyor that runs from the gulf of Mexico eastwards, /to the UK and Europe, the conveyor conveys heat from the tropics to the higher or //lower latitudes, in fact spreading the heat over the whole planet, by virtue of watery current convection, we are all warmed.

The gulf stream is part of a larger global current called The Thermohaline Circulation

The theory is when this current stops the earth has another ice age.

There is strong evidence for past ice ages, perhaps ice ages are a kind of safety valve, for when life gets ahead of itself in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, maybe.

It appears that the salinity of the water near the north pole is the on off switch, and as the earth heats up, (by what ever means) more fresh water is dumped in this area, which below a level of salinity stops the sinking effect that freezing 'salt water' has that drives Europe's central heating system.

I am unclear as to whether it is too late, but I would say one way to reverse this direction of carbon dioxide , is to lower the amount the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This can be achieved by two measures.

One.

All the people who drive to work, to sit in front of a computer and talk on a tellingbone should do so from home.

This will save billions of tons of fuel and carbon dioxide.

Two.

The Icelandic economy is in ruins and they only have a population of around 300,000.

But what Iceland does have in abundance, is lots of electricity, the plan is to use this abundance of electricity to smelt aluminium NO, use this abundant elec, to shift water and elec around the planet, use the water and power to grow plants, use the plants to feed the starving and most important of all 'SUCK THE CARBON DIOXIDE OUT OF THE AIR'.

Hydrogen is beautifully simple, it lifts stuff, can make electricity and is 2/3's the components of water, because it takes two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, to make one molecule of water.

One cubic mile of gaseous hydrogen contains enough hydrogen to create 744316795 million gallons of water, which is well over a thousand Olympic swimming pools of water.

Put the cubic mile of hydrogen in a vast mylar balloon, make the balloon, carry a hydrogen compressor, a tank to compress the hydrogen and a GPS system driven by a light and powerful computer such as a Nokia n900 and some fuel cell driven propellers.

So using Icelandic Lecky, create hydrogen and fill a vast mylar balloon with it, harness the balloon via cables, to dynamos on the ground, spin the dynamos on the ground to create more electricity, use the extra electricity to create even more hydrogen.

Once the square mile of mylar is filled with hydrogen,
set it loose and as it arises - admire its gracefulness, as it heads for the jet stream.

Once the SQOM is nearing the point of balance in the jet stream, ie rises no higher, the hydrogen in the MB (mylar balloon) starts to be compressed into the tank the MB is carrying slung beneath it.

This will control the MB's height in the atmosphere, in just the same way as a submarine controls its depth in the water.

The trick is, by using the energy implicit in the anti-entropic engineering achieved by separating hydrogen from water.

We can put clean water and electricity anywhere on our planet, with the electricity being cheaply created in Iceland, where ever we need water on the planet, just take the hydrogen 'coz the oxygen is already there, the oxygen created when the hydrogen is seperated in Iceland, will reunite with the oxygen, when it arrives in the Sahara.

Please grow palm oil nuts in the Sahara and stop chopping down jungle in Indonesia and depriving Orangutans of their homes.

I heard one twat on radio 4, say that water is precious, I presume this ignoramus has never been to sea, our wonderful planet has an abundance of water, the trick is to get it to the right place.

2009-11-12T20:46:00.003Z

If anyone coming to dollyknot wonders about the colour change, it is in honour of my ex-wife Glynis.

I went to her funeral on the 10th and one of her wishes was people wore purple to her funeral, seeing as I had nothing purple to wear at her funeral, I have decided to colour my website purple, gone but not forgotten Glyn - forever.

Start of football league day

2009-08-08T16:52:00.003+01:00

Its that time of the year again, football season has restarted.

Leicester has won - good.

Went to get some beer and they have put the price up.

At the shop they said that they had to put the price up because their suppliers had put their prices up, wonder if that extends back to the brewery?

2009-07-31T23:15:00.002+01:00

Many years ago I was parked in a layby with my truck and this fellar came up to me and said "sell me some of your diesel - no one will know" quick as a flash I came back to him and said "yes someone will know, I will know!" and wound the window up and completely ignored this not know it all fellar.

A new idea

2009-07-20T15:35:00.007+01:00

The high cost to the human race's colonisation of space is caused by the complexity and danger of reaching and leaving escape velocity within the earth's atmosphere.

The Space Shuttle turned out to be an expensive dangerous white elephant, the reason the Shuttle was so expensive is, because of its complexity with millions of different manufactured parts.

There is another route, we can reach the edge of space no problem Burt Rutan proved this with Space Ship one, when he won the 'X' prize by reaching over 100 km twice in one week.

Yes the Shuttle was 'reusable' but in name only. They could not have turned that around in a week.

One idea could be to create rocket fuel on the moon, there is lots of water on the moon, use solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen which makes very good rocket fuel.

Use the rocket fuel to fuel a space tug, use the space tug to accelerate and decelerate Space Ship one, to and from escape velocity in the safety of a vacuum.

The moon is the door to the solar system.

Driving through the lowlands

2009-07-17T19:06:00.005+01:00

From 1987 to 1995 I was a continental truck driver, so driving on the other side of the road was no stranger to me, the only problem being I tended to drive my car like it was a truck, sort of acting like I had a 40ft trailer behind me.

The thing that sort of impressed me was how my mobile kept up with which country I was in, all part of the Vodafone group of course.

We took a diversion through a small town called Breda in Holland that H liked.

Many years ago I lived in Amsterdam and one things I really liked about the Dutch, was the order that is readily apparent in their cities was tinged with a touch of anarchy. One of the funniest examples for this was that everybody stole bikes, the point being is there was that there was that many bikes about that it did not really matter.

I noticed the same sort of thing in Breda - a nest of bikes.

It would not surprise me if I went back there over a week later to find the same bikes in the same place as a sort of cultural street statement .

Decided to sample a Dutch coffee shop, very nice.

2009-07-17T18:07:00.006+01:00

The reason for my trip to Peterborough for a passport, is a friend of mine who has children in Gutersloh Germany, wanted to pay them a visit.

He would normally drive there in his car, but this time he asked me if I would like to drive him there in my Citroen with him covering the fuel and ferry costs, so I thought it sounded ok as a deal and the chance to have an interesting experience.

So we set off at 2:45 PM to arrive at Dover by 6 PM.

It felt familiar to have the deck move under my feet again. We arrived at Dunkirk around 2 hours later.

Temperature

2009-07-04T18:50:00.001+01:00

It is very warm in the UK at the moment.

My themometer reads 30 Celcius therein lies the reason for this post, I
grew up with Fahrenheit in this scale. the temperature is 86 which is
more poetical than 30, which sounds cold.

So my suggestion is we switch to Kelvin.

Todays temperature is 303.15 Kelvins which sounds much warmer.

Among Many Peoples, Little Genomic Variety

2009-06-25T13:43:00.003+01:00

I have a friend with slightly darker skin than me and he said people with colour prejudice are evil and I replied no, they are ignorant.

No he wouldn't have it that they were ignorant, he was adamant they were evil , so I said they were unaware of the genetic evidence some of which follows.

The more people are aware of this evidence, the more racial prejudice will be marginalized.

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 22, 2009

There is a simplicity and all-inclusiveness to the number three -- the triangle, the Holy Trinity, three peas in a pod. So it's perhaps not surprising that the Family of Man is divided that way, too.

All of Earth's people, according to a new analysis of the genomes of 53 populations, fall into just three genetic groups. They are the products of the first and most important journey our species made -- the walk out of Africa about 70,000 years ago by a small fraction of ancestral Homo sapiens.

One group is the African. It contains the descendants of the original humans who emerged in East Africa about 200,000 years ago. The second is the Eurasian, encompassing the natives of Europe, the Middle East and Southwest Asia (east to about Pakistan). The third is the East Asian, the inhabitants of Asia, Japan and Southeast Asia, and -- thanks to the Bering Land Bridge and island-hopping in the South Pacific -- of the Americas and Oceania as well.

To read the rest please click here.

The moon

2009-06-21T23:17:00.002+01:00

They tell me the moon moves away from the earth 3.8 centimeters a year.

One inch is 2.54 centimeters for those who don't speak metric.

The moon's apparent diameter gets slightly smaller every year.

This is called the theory of the very slowly vanishing moon.

Rubik's cube

2009-06-21T16:35:00.001+01:00

Many years ago I taught myself to do the Rubik cube, it used to annoy me that
I never passed on that knowledge, I am annoyed no longer, I taught my son my
method, and he can now also do the cube.

A nice fathers day present!

Getting older does not hurt so much if you can transfer some of your skill set
to the next generation.

Brit becomes world's oldest man

2009-06-19T11:24:00.006+01:00

Mr Allingham, whose life has spanned three centuries and six monarchs, has five
grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, 14 great-great grandchildren and one
great-great-great grandchild.

From

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Allingham

Stuff twitter

2009-06-18T23:31:00.002+01:00

Hello All,

It has been a while and I have been a twitter, more from the desire to emulate
mobile texting than anything else.

So the problem with being a 'twit' (shortened for the sake of brevity) is
writing only in the short 'sound bite'.

So anyway today, I went in person to Peterborough and applied for a fast track
passport, sort of pay an arm and a leg and wait a week, to be reminded I am
only a member of the hoi polloi after all.

I ask you, my last passport get lost in a house move. So I had to get my
passport application countersigned (and here is the bit that got to me) by a
professional person, as tho' the only people that can be trusted are
'professional' people yeah like all working people can't be trusted and all
'professional' people can be trusted - don't make me laugh.

Running around yesterday like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to find
someone to countersign my application and photograph, found someone at last -
thx M. Why can't I just give them my national insurance number to verify that
I am me.

So anyway drove to Peterborough with N riding shotgun and serenading me on the
harmonica and we arrived no problem. When I filled in the form one of the
questions was, when had I applied for my first passport I knew it was in the
80's but not exactly when.

They sent me away for an hour whilst they went through their records and they
found my original application! 1987 was when I applied for my first passport.

What this means is I began driving trucks on the continent then, this ties a
lot of my life's threads together.

They kept my birth certificate, I know not why, they said they will return it
soon.

I do not like it that they have my birth certificate. I can no longer prove I
was born.

Now I only exist as a figment of my own imagination.

N got a nice shot of Peterborough cathedral.

A plan to save the planet

2009-04-21T10:52:00.002+01:00

In Iceland they are building a vast hydroelectric system.

They are going to use the electricity to smelt aluminium. I propose a
different plan, that they use the electricity to extract hydrogen from the
sea.

The three beautiful attributes of hydrogen are, it can be used to lift things,
make electricity and it is one of the two elements that make up water.

Why not combine all the three attributes of hydrogen to improve the planet and
undo some of the harm, our species appears to be doing.

Put the hydrogen in a vast balloon, attach a motor driven propeller and a
hydrogen compressor, both driven by the hydrogen in the balloon, navigate it
automatically using GPS.

Fly the balloon into the jet stream using the compressor to control the height
of the balloon, use the jet stream to transport the balloon to where water is
required on the planet.

In one cubic mile of uncompressed hydrogen, there is potentially 744316795
gallons of water, which is enough water to fill over a thousand Olympic
swiming pools.

Water is very heavy so would be expensive to transport about, simple just
transport the hydrogen 'coz the oxygen is already there!

Once we can get the water to the dry areas of the planet and grow palm oil
plantations there, we can stop the absolute scandal of chopping down jungle in
Indonesia to plant palm oil plantations and in so doing - destroy the
orangutans environment.

Imagine a plentiful supply of water in the middle of Australia or in the
Sahara.

More water in dry areas means more plants means less carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.

If the water is stored at the top of mountains then hydroelectricity could be
made when the water is needed at the bottom of the mountain.

The electricity generated when the hydrogen and oxygen are combined in a fuel
cell, could be used to create fertilizer and if there were any juice left
over, you could always smelt aluminium with it :)

Match tonight

2008-10-16T17:05:00.001+01:00

I have a chess match tonight with Loughborough. I lost my first match
of the season but I had to play top board, because two players did not
turn up so I ended up playing Spinney Hill's top board of their second
team .

Hopefully I won't be playing top board tonight.

Lol I was offered $50 for this blog back in June, but did not know about
it, because I am not in the habit of checking my Google mail very often,
not that I would have sold it!

Later.

Pictures

2008-10-13T13:48:00.001+01:00

Well it has been a while, probably because of lack of suitable content
to post. But looking at a friend's photographic essay book of Leicester
has sort of inspired me to take photos of my home city.

The other week whilst exploring Evington I came across this amazing
avenue of trees, the weird thing is the avenue goes no where and has no
houses beside it.

Carlin on sport

2008-08-24T11:23:00.000+01:00

To my way of thinking there are really only three sports: baseball,
basketball, and football. Everything else is either a game or an activity.

Hockey comes to mind. People think hockey is a sport. It's not. Hockey is
three activities taking place at the same time: ice skating, fooling around
with a puck, and beating the shit out of somebody. If these guys had more
brains then teeth, they'd do these things one at a time. First go
ice-skating, then fool around with a puck, then you go to the bar and beat
the shit out of somebody. The day would last longer, and these guys would
have a lot more fun. Another reason why hockey isn't a sport is that it's not
played with a ball. Anything not played with a ball can't be a sport. These
are my rules, I make 'em up.

Soccer. Soccer is not a sport because you can't use your arms. Anything where
you can't use your arms can't be a sport. Tap dancing isn't a sport. I rest
my case.

Running. People think running is a sport. Running isn't a sport because
anybody can do it. I can run, you can run. For Christ sakes, my mother can
run! You don't see her on the cover of Sports Illustrated, do you?

Swimming. Swimming isn't a sport. Swimming is a way to keep from drowning.
That's just common sense. Sailing isn't a sport. Sailing is a way to get
somewhere. Riding the bus isn't a sport, why the fuck should sailing be a
sport?

Boxing is not a sport either. Boxing is a way to beat the shit out of
somebody. In that respect, boxing is actually a more sophisticated way of
hockey. In spite of what the police tell you, beating the shit out of
somebody is not a sport. When police brutality becomes an Olympic event,
fine, then boxing can be a sport.

Bowling. Bowling isn't a sport because you have to rent shoes. Don't forget,
these are my rules. I make 'em up.

Billiards. Some people think billiards is a sport, but it can't be, because
there's no chance of serious injury. Unless, of course, you welch on a bet in
a tough neighborhood. Then, if you wind up with a pool cue stickin' out of
your ass, you know you might be the victim of a sports-related injury. But
that ain't billiards, that's pool, and that starts with a P, and that rhymes
with D, and that brings me to darts.

Darts could have been a sport, because at least there's a chance to put
someone's eye out. But, alas, darts will never be a sport, because the whole
object of the game is to reach zero, which goes against all sports logic.

Lacrosse is not a sport; lacrosse is a faggoty college activity. I don't care
how rough it is, anytime you're running around a field, waving a stick with a
little net on the end of it, you're engaged in a faggoty college activity.
Period.

Field hockey and fencing. Same thing. Faggoty college shit. Also these
activities aren't sports, because you can't gamble on them. Anything you
can't gamble on can't be a sport. When was the last time you made a fuckin'
fencing bet?

Gymnastics is not a sport because Romanians are good at it. It took me a long
time to come up with that rule, but goddammit, I did it.

Polo isn't a sport. Polo is golf on horseback. Without holes. It's a great
concept, but not a sport. And as far as water polo is concerned, I hesitate
to even mention it, because it's extremely cruel to horses.

Which brings me to hunting. You think hunting is a sport? Ask the deer. The
only good thing about hunting is the many fatal accidents on the weekends.
And, of course, the permanently disfigured hunters who survive such
accidents.

Then you have tennis. Tennis is very trendy and very fruity, but it's not a
sport. It's just a way to meet other trendy fruits. Technically, tennis is an
advanced form a Ping-Pong. In fact, tennis is Ping-Pong played while standing
on the table. Great concept, not a sport.

In fact, all racket games are nothing more the derivatives of Ping-Pong. Even
volleyball is, technically, racketless, team Ping-Pong played with an
inflated ball and raised net while standing on the table.

And finally welcome to golf. For my full take on golf, I refer you elsewhere
in the book, but let it just be said golf is a game that might possibly be
fun, if it could be played alone. But it's the vacuous, striving,
superficial, male-bonding joiners one has to associate with that makes it
such a repulsive pastime. And it is decidedly not a sport. Period.

From George Carlin's book Napalm and Silly Putty

More George

2008-06-24T13:30:00.000+01:00

The custom of observing a moment of silence before an athletic event to
honor dead people strikes me as meaningless. And arbitrary. Because, if
you'll notice, only certain people get this special treatment. It's highly
selective. Therefore I've decided that someday, when the time comes that
every single person in the world who dies receives a moment of silence, I
will begin paying attention. Until then, count me out. It's ridiculous.
Here's what I mean.

Let's say you live in Cleveland, and you decide to go to the Browns game.
There you are in the football stadium, with a hot dog and a beer, ready to
enjoy action, and a somber-sounding public-address announcer interrupts the
festivities, intoning darkly:

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, we ask that you remove your hats and join
us in observing a moment of silence for the forty-three unattractive,
mentally retarded, overweight Bolivian dance instructors who lost their lives
this morning in a roller coaster accident at an amusement park near La Paz.
Apparently, they all stood up on a sharp turn and went flying off,
willy-nilly, into the cool, crisp, morning La Paz air. And, being heavier
than air, crashed through the roof of the funhouse, landing on several
clowns, killing them all and crushing their red noses beyond recognition."

Snickering is heard in the crowd. The American announcer continues:

"And, ladies and gentlemen, lest you think this amusing, lest you think
this a time for laughter, I ask you please-please- to put yourself in the
place of the bereaved Bolivian who may be seated near you this afternoon. Try
reversing places. Imagine yourself visiting Bolivia and taking in a soccer
game. Imagine yourself seated in the stadium with a burrito and a cerveza,
ready to enjoy the action, and a somber-sounding, Spanish public-address
announcer interrupts the festivities, intoning darkly:

" 'Senors y senoritas, we ask that you remove your sombreros and join us
in observing un momento de silencio for the forty-three mentally retarded,
overweigh, unattractive American meat inspectors who lost their lives this
morning in a Ferris Wheel accident at at carnival near Ashtabula, Ohio.'

The Spanish announcer continues:

" 'Apparently, the huge wheel flew out of control, spinning madly,
flinging the poor meat inspectors off, willy-nilly, into the hot, humid,
Midwester air. And, being heavier than air, they crashed through the roof of
the carnival freak show, crushing the dog-faced boy, and destroying many of
his chew-toys.'

"And let's say, as you sit there in La Paz listening to this, you find
yourself seated next to some Bolivian smart-ass who's giggling and poking his
friend in the ribs. May I suggest you'd be highly pissed at this lack of
respect for Americans? And, might I add, rightly so."

The American announcer continues his plea:

"And so, ladies and gentlemen, considering the many grieving Bolivians who
may be seated among you today, and trying to keep in check that normal human
impulse to laugh heartily when another person dies, let us try again-really
hard this time- to observe a moment of silence for the forty-three
unattractive, mentally retarded, overweight Bolivian dance instructors who
went flying, willy-nilly, off the roller coaster in La Paz. Not to mention
the poor, unsuspecting clowns who at the time were innocently filling their
water pistols."

You can see the problem either announcer would face; the fans would simply
not be able to get into it. But I understand that; I can empathize with the
fans. Because, frankly, I don't know what to do during a moment of silence,
either. Do you? What are you supposed to do? What do they expect? Do they
want us to pray? They don't say that. If you want me to pray, they should
ask. I'll pray, but at least have the courtesy to make the formal request.

But no. They offer no guidance, no instruction at all. I honestly don't
know what to do. Sometimes I resort to evil thoughts: I wish my seatmates ill
fortune in days to come; I fantasize about standing naked in front of the
Lincoln Memorial and becoming sexually aroused; I picture thousands of
penguins being hacked to death by boatloads of graduate students. More often
though, I wind up bored silly, searching for something to occupy my thoughts.
One time I inventoried the pimples on the neck of the man in front of me,
hoping to find one with a hair growing through it, so I could quietly pluck
it out during the confusion of halftime. On a happier occasion, I once found
myself staring at the huge but perfectly formed breasts of the woman to my
left, her fleshy mounds rising and falling softly in the late October sun.
And my thoughts turned tenderly romantic:

"Holy shit! Look at the fuckin' knobs on her! Great fuckin' knobs! I think
I'm gonna go to the refreshment stand, buy myself a weenie and hide it in my
pants. Then during halftime, I'm gonna whip out the weenie and force her to
watch while I eat the bun and stuff the weenie up my.... naaah! She's
probably one of those uptight chicks who'd think I'm weird. She doesn't know
the problem is I'm shy."

Those are my thoughts, and I can't help it. During a moment of silence my
imagination runs away with me. I don't know what to do. And why is it silence
they're looking for? What good is silence? The ones being remembered are
already dead, they're not going to wake up now. Why not a moment of
screaming? Wouldn't that be more appropriate for dead people? Wouldn't you
like to hear 60,000 fans screaming, "Aaaaaiiiiiieeeeeaaagghh!!" It sure would
put me in the mood for football.

And one more criticism. Why honor only the dead? Why this favoritism? Why
not the injured, as well? There are always more injured than there are dead
in any decent tragedy. What about them? And what about those who aren't dead
or injured, but are simply "treated and released"? How about, if not silence,
at least a moment of muffled conversation for those who were treated and
released? It's an honorable condition. Personally, I've always wanted to be
treated and released. Usually, I'm treated and detained. Perhaps it's for the
best.*

More George

2008-06-24T11:27:00.000+01:00

I'm a modern man, A man for the millennium, Digital and smoke free.

A diversified multicultural postmodern deconstructionist, Politically
anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

I've been uplinked and downloaded. I've been inputted and outsourced. I
know the upside of downsizing. I know the downside of upgrading.

I'm a high tech lowlife. A cutting edge state-of-the-art bicoastal
multitasker, And I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

I'm new wave but I'm old school, And my inner child is outward bound.

I'm a hot wired heat seeking warm hearted cool customer, Voice activated
and biodegradable.

I interface from a database, And my database is in cyberspace, So I'm
interactive, I'm hyperactive, And from time-to-time, I'm radioactive.

Behind the eight ball, Ahead of the curve, Riding the wave, Dodging a
bullet, Pushing the envelope.

I'm on point, On task, On message, And off drugs. I got no need for coke
and speed, I got no urge to binge and purge.

I'm in the moment, On the edge, Over the top, But under the radar.

A high concept, Low profile, Medium range ballistic missionary. A
street-wise smart bomb. A top gun bottom feeder.

I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps, I run victory
laps.

I'm a totally ongoing bigfoot slam dunk rainmaker with a proactive
outreach. A raging workaholic. A working ragaholic. Out of rehab, And in
denial.

I got a personal trainer, A personal shopper, A personal assistant, And a
personal agenda.

You can't shut me up, You can't dumb me down. 'Cause I'm tireless, And I'm
wireless. I'm an alpha male on beta blockers.

I'm a non-believer and an over-achiever. Laid back but fashion forward.

Up front, Down home, Low rent, High maintenance.

Super size, Long lasting, High definition, Fast acting, Oven ready, And
built to last.

I'm a hands on, Foot loose, Knee jerk, Head case.

Prematurely post traumatic, And I have a love child who sends me hate
mail.

But I'm feeling, I'm caring, I'm healing, I'm sharing. A supportive
bonding nurturing primary care giver.

My output is down, But my income is up. I take a short position on the
long bond, And my revenue stream has its own cash flow.

I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds, I watch trash sports.

I'm gender specific, Capital intensive, User friendly, And lactose
intolerant.

I like rough sex. I like rough sex. I like tough love. I use the f word in
my email, And the software on my hard drive is hard core, no soft porn.

I bought a microwave at a mini mall. I bought a mini van in a mega store.
I eat fast food in the slow lane.

I'm toll free, Bite sized, Ready to wear, And I come in all sizes.

A fully equipped, Factory authorized, Hospital tested, Clinically proven,
Scientifically formulated medical miracle.

I've been pre-washed, Pre-cooked, Pre-heated, Pre-screened, Pre-approved,
Pre-packaged, Post-dated, Freeze-dried, Double-wrapped, Vacuum-packed, And I
have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I'm a rude dude, But I'm the real deal. Lean and mean. Cocked, locked and
ready to rock. Rough tough and hard to bluff.

I take it slow. I go with the flow. I ride with the tide. I got glide in
my stride.

Drivin' and movin', Sailin' and spinnin', Jivin' and groovin', Wailin' and
winnin'.

I don't snooze, So I don't lose. I keep the pedal to the metal, And the
rubber on the road.

I party hearty, And lunch time is crunch time.

I'm hanging in, There ain't no doubt. And I'm hanging tough, Over and out.

-George Carlin, Life Is Worth Losing, Beacon Theater, HBO

George Carlin's Views on Aging

2008-06-23T18:58:00.001+01:00

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when
we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging
that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half.
You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next
number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna
be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . You become 21. Even the
words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad
milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a
sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes,
it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are
gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day
thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you
TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you
start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid
again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let
the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.
Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the
devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with
us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve
it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county;
to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER :
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,but by the moments that
take our breath away.

George Carlin dead at 71

2008-06-23T11:20:00.001+01:00

The man's words.

"You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don't like words that
hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like
euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American english is loaded with
euphemisms. Because Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality.
Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent a kind of a soft
language to protect themselves from it. And it gets worse with every
generation. For some reason it just keeps getting worse.

I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people
know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed
to it's absolute peak and maximum, can't take any more input. The nervous
system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war that
condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two
syllables. Shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was 70
years ago. Then a whole generation went by. And the second world war came
along and the very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four
syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to be as hard to
say. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock...battle fatigue.

Then we had the war in Korea in 1950. Madison Avenue was riding high by that
time. And the very same combat condition was called Operational Exhaustion.
Hey we're up to 8 syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed
completely out of the phrase now. It's totally sterile now. Operational
Exhaustion: sounds like something that might happen to your car. Then of
course came the war in Vietnam, which has only been over for about 16 or 17
years. And thanks to the lies and deceit surrounding that war, I guess it's
no surprise that the very same condition was called Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. Still 8 syllables, but we've added a hyphen. And the pain is
completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I bet you, if we'd still been calling it shell shock, some of those Vietnam
veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I bet you
that.

But it didn't happen. And one of the reasons is because we were using that
soft language, that language that takes out the life out of life. And it is a
function of time it does keep getting worse.

Give you another example. Sometime during my life toilet paper became bathroom
tissue. I wasn't notified of this. No one asked me if I agreed with it. It
just happened. Toilet paper became bathroom tissue. Sneakers became running
shoes. False teeth became dental appliances. Medicine became medication.
Information became directory assistance. The dump became the land fill. Car
crashes became automobile accidents. Partly cloudy became partly sunny.
Motels became motor lodges. House trailers became mobile homes. Used cars
became previously owned transportation. Room service became guest room
dining. Constipation became occasional irregularity.

When I was a little kid if I got sick they wanted me to go to a hospital and
see the doctor. Now they want me to go to a health maintenance organization.
Or a wellness center to consult a health care delivery professional. Poor
people used to live in slums. Now the economically disadvantaged occupy
sub-standard housing in the inner cities. And they're broke! They're broke.
They don't have a negative cash flow position. They're f--kin' broke! Because
a lot of them were fired. You know, fired. Management wanted to curtail
redundancies in the human resources area. So many people are no longer viable
members of the work force.

Smug, greedy well-fed white people have invented a language to conceal their
sins. It's as simple as that. The CIA doesn't kill people anymore, they
neutralize people, or they depopulate the area. The government doesn't lie,
it engages in disinformation. The pentagon actually measures radiation in
something they call sunshine units. Israeli murderers are called commandos.
Arab commandos are called terrorists. Contra killers are called freedom
fighters. Well if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire
what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part of it to us, do
they?

And some of this stuff is just silly. We know that. Like when the airlines
tell us to pre-board. What the hell is pre-board? What does that mean? To get
on before you get on?

They say they're going to pre-board those passengers in need of special
assistance ...cripples! Simple honest direct language. There's no shame
attached to the word cripple I can find in any dictionary. In fact it's a
word used in Bible translations. "Jesus healed the cripples." Doesn't take
seven words to describe that condition. But we don't have cripples in this
country anymore. We have the physically challenged. Is that a grotesque
enough evasion for you? How about differently-abled? I've heard them called
that. Differently-abled! You can't even call these people handicapped
anymore. They say: "We're not handicapped, we're handy capable!" These poor
people have been bullsh-tted by the system into believing that if you change
the name of the condition somehow you'll change the condition. Well hey
cousin ... doesn't happen!

We have no more deaf people in this country. Hearing impaired. No more blind
people. Partially sighted or visually impaired. No more stupid people,
everyone has a learning disorder. Or he's minimally exceptional. How would
you like to told that about your child? 'He's minimally exceptional.'
Psychologists have actually started calling ugly people those with severe
appearance deficits. It's getting so bad that any day now I expect to hear a
rape victim referred to as an unwilling sperm recipient!

And we have no more old people in this country. No more old people. We shipped
them all away and we brought in these senior citizens. Isn't that a typically
American twentieth century phrase? Bloodless. Lifeless. No pulse in one of
them. A senior citizen. But I've accepted that one. I've come to terms with
it. I know it's here to stay. We'll never get rid of it. But the one I do
resist, the one I keep resisting, is when they look at an old guy and
say, "Look at him Dan, he's ninety years young." Imagine the fear of aging
that reveals. To not even be able to use the word old to describe someone. To
have to use an antonym.

And fear of aging is natural. It's universal, isn't it? We all have that. No
one wants to get old. No one wants to die. But we do. So we con ourselves. I
started conning myself when I got in my forties. I'd look in the mirror and
say, "Well...I guess I'm getting ...older." Older sounds a little better than
old, doesn't it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer. I'm getting
old. And it's okay. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I
won't have to die. I'll pass away. Or I'll expire, like a magazine
subscription. If it happens in the hospital they'll call it a terminal
episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient care
outcome. And if it's the result of malpractice they'll say it was a
therapeutic misadventure.

I'm telling ya, some of this language makes me want to vomit. Well, maybe not
vomit ...makes me want to engage in an involuntary personal protein spill."

The answer to pollution and energy

2008-06-21T11:36:00.003+01:00

This seems to be the answer to many of the problems that humans are having.

What makes it even more of an attractive solution, is we can return to all the
landfill sites and feed the landfill through the plasma furnaces, extracting
useful energy and raw materials, from the landfill. And leaving nice lakes
full of yummy fish.

The Days claimed net production from each ton of municipal solid waste:

112 pounds of hydrogen
55 gallons of biodiesel
a little electricity
926 pounds of oxygen

We can reverse the entrophy represented by the landfill.

Oystermouth Railway

2008-06-20T17:51:00.001+01:00

The first passenger carrying railway in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oystermouth_Railway

In 1960, a local bus company bought the line and with a colossal lack of
imagination promptly closed it down, oblivious to the howls of the local
residents.

Private narrow minded greed, trumps the public good, time and time again.

What a tourist magnet it could have been been, especially if they would have
run steam engines on it.

The tiny island of Britain changed the world, one big element of that change,
was railways. The amazing thing about a railway is, it extends the supply
line for its materials, with which it builds itself, it becomes a self
fulfilling prophesy.

Stalagmites and stalactites

2008-06-20T12:35:00.001+01:00

I have just learned how to remember the difference between stalagmites and
stalactites, from Dr Iain Stewart, In his excellent geology program 'Journey
from the centre of the earth'.

'tites go down and 'mites go up, I always did wonder lol.

Bottom up, top down.

2008-06-18T23:06:00.001+01:00

The end point of the exercise is more vague with bottom up.

Top down, has the end of the process closer to the beginning. More like 'the
end justifies the means'.

Hello World

2008-06-16T23:48:00.001+01:00

Satnavs

2008-06-16T22:47:00.003+01:00

As some of you will know, for many years I was a truck driver. One of the
biggest problems for the type of driver I was - was navigation.

Driving up the road with 38 ton under your bum, whilst trying to read an A to
Z, in a strange city, is not my idea of fun.

When the government in its infinite wisdom, decided that I qualified for a
motability car, one of my first purchases as a car user, was a satnav - an
awesome piece of kit.

A satnav comes with a problem.

Everyone wants to borrow it.

I find it hard to say no to friends.

So I want to say to the world GET YOUR OWN BLOODY SATNAV, but my manners are far too nice.

Exploring

2008-06-16T18:27:00.002+01:00

This was sent as an email attachment.

Test

2008-06-16T18:11:00.001+01:00

This is a new way to write to my blog,
Basically this has been written as an email.

If this works ok then I will use this all the time 'coz I am very familiar,
with emails.

Later

2008-06-16T15:09:00.002+01:00

Many years ago I used to write computer programs. I learned a very profound point.

You could either program 'top down' or 'bottom up'

I have found this way of looking at things quite useful.

So what is the difference?

Bottom up.

This entails writing separate modules, to cope with various inputs and outputs first. Then joining the separate modules together, sort of ad hock. Like starting to write a novel as a stream of consciousness and having no clear idea of where the novel might end.

Once all the modules are written they are joined together in an giant endless loop. Also necessary is a way of exiting the loop.

Top down.

The giant loop is written first. This means the routines are named before they are written, this is called structured programming.

Both methods have their advantages and their disadvantages.

Top down is tidier and quicker to write, but a lot less powerful and you have to keep reinventing the wheel.

Bottom up, tends to write tighter routines, nature tends to program like this via evolution.

The point it makes is, science is bottom up and religion is top down

Many people eschew any big picture thinking, because they say you cannot test a big picture. Personally I love the big picture. To some people - everything is just details.

Philosophy is an attempt to disentangle the big picture. Philosophers specialize in generalization.

Unix is written bottom up

Fred

2008-06-11T15:48:00.002+01:00

For ages I have been trying to tame/train Fred, I think I might have made a breakthru today, it sounded very much like he said "want food". Then after I fed him, he danced about on his perch cooing at me, extending his claw at me, so I would give him my finger to hold. What I hope what has happened is, that the penny has dropped with him in terms of him understanding, the causal connection between language and getting what you want in terms of reasonable demands.

He has taken up the pastime of swinging on the wooden parrot, that is suspended next to his perch. Today he climbed up the rope that the perch is suspended from. He has done this before, but only because I bribed him to do it, with a palm nut. To see him climb the rope in terms of wanting to play with his environment was great.

Another thing he has done to today, much more annoying than the other things, is to attempt to take a bath in his water dish and splashing water everywhere. This he does on average about once a week.

I have tried to get him to share the shower with me, but he won't.

I will sort some photos out when I can locate my camera lead.

Ants

2008-05-31T00:31:00.002+01:00

My parrot and I have come to a disagreement, he is into ants and I am not.

Hydrogen to the moon

2008-04-02T20:13:00.003+01:00

Hello,

I've had an idea that would make the moon habitable, the one thing that life seems to need in great abundance, is water, water is the key to human problems, not guns.

What we discovered on the moon is lots of oxygen. The lunar crust is 40 percent oxygen. It is a case of, instead of 'just add water', 'just add hydrogen'.

So how do we get the hydrogen to the moon?

When the space shuttle goes to space, it is fueled by water. Okay the water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, but strike a match and you have lovely clean rocket fuel. When the shuttle takes off, it makes it rain at Cape Canaveral.

Why not use the hydrogen and oxygen in a radically different way?

Fill a massive balloon with hydrogen, do this in Iceland, where energy is cheap.

Make the hydrogen lift a tank of oxygen.

When the hydrogen balloon reaches its ceiling, use the oxygen and hydrogen, in a fuel cell to drive an ion rocket.

Use the ion drive to increase the hydrogen balloon's orbital velocity, ergo, as the orbital velocity increases, the hydrogen balloon will get higher.

This idea has been shown to work here OK it would take a long time to get hydrogen to the moon this way, but it would be a cheap way of greening the moon.

Mix 67 percent oxygen and 33 percent hydrogen and you get a 100 percent water, plus a lovely loud bang to boot.

Mousetrap

2008-03-11T21:00:00.009Z

I live in an old house with a parrot, this causes a mouse problem.
I have tried poison, glue paper.

The old style traps take two hands to set and because of my disability I find nearly impossible to set. The glue paper has not worked, the poison has not worked.

I have found a solution that works, it is called 'The big cheese' - works a treat and it is easy to set up.

In the space of a couple of hours I caught 4 mice with it.

I will get my finger out and post a picture to this blog, of the marvelous new mousetrap.

Semiotics

2008-02-03T22:13:00.000Z

Semiotics is the study of symbols, chess is a gymnasium for the symbol manipulation module of the mind. In Scotland it has been discovered that if 7 and 8 year olds are taught to play chess their reading ability improves.

Lol

2008-01-30T22:07:00.000Z

22. R. K. Winkelmann, "The Erogenous Zones: Their Nerve Supply and Its
Significance," Proceedings of the Staff Meetings of the Mayo Clinic 34
(1959): 39-47.

23. R. K. Winkelmann, "The Cutaneous Innervation of Human Newborn Prepuce,"
Journal of Investigative Demtotology 26 (1956): 53-67.

Consumer-product diversity now exceeds biodiversity.

2008-01-29T17:13:00.000Z

From

http://www.langston.com/Fun_People/1998/1998AWW.html

Content-Type: text/plain
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3 v118.2)
From: Peter Langston 
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 98 13:35:08 -0800
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Consumer-product diversity now exceeds biodiversity.

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
[Funny but sad...  -psl]

Forwarded-by: Nev Dull 
Forwarded-by: "Michael A. Olson" 
Forwarded-by: frew@icess.ucsb.edu (Jim Frew)
Forwarded-by: Alison Kent 

WASHINGTON, DC--According to an EPA study conducted in conjunction with the
U.N. Task Force On Global Developmental Impact, consumer-product diversity
now exceeds biodiversity.

According to the study, for the first time in history, the rich array of
consumer products available in malls and supermarkets surpasses the number
of living species populating the planet.

"Last year's introduction of Dentyne Ice Cinnamint gum, right on the heels
of the extinction of the Carolina tufted hen, put product diversity on top
for the first time," study chair Donald Hargrove said.  "Today, the Procter
& Gamble subphylum alone outnumbers insects two to one."

The sharp rise in consumer-product diversity--with more than 200 million
new purchasing options generated since 1993--comes as welcome news for those
upset over the dwindling number of plant and animal species.

"As more and more species fall victim to extinction, we face a grave crisis
of decreased diversity, not only in America but across the globe," Hargrove
said. "But the good news is, these losses in biodiversity are more than
offset by a corresponding rise in consumer-product diversity. Though flora
and fauna are dwindling, the spectrum of goods available to consumers is
wider than at any time in planetary history. And that's something we can
all be happy about."

Scientists are calling the current decrease in biodiversity one of the worst
episodes of mass extinction in the Earth's history. The rate at which
species are currently vanishing approaches that of the "K-T Event" that
ended the Age of Dinosaurs 65 million years ago and resulted in a loss of
76 percent of the world's species. The current era of biodiversity
depletion, however, is unique in that it is the first mass extinction to
occur in conjunction with an expanding industrial society, and thus, the
first in which consumer-product availability can function as a "balancing
factor" to help keep global diversity thriving.

"Any healthy system needs diversification in order to flourish," University
of Chicago biologist Jonathan Grogan said. "Any complex system, whether we
are talking about the Amazon Rainforest or the Mall of America, needs a rich
array of species/products if it is to survive.  That is why, in light of
the crumbling global ecosystem, it is increasingly vital that we foster the
diversification of the global marketplace by buying the widest range of
consumer products possible."

According to Grogan, because of the interdependent nature of systems like
the Amazon Rainforest and the Mall of America, the disappearance of any one
species/product can lead to the disappearance of countless others.

"The extinction of the Borneo hooded tern was an indirect result of the
disappearance of the native species of sea snails upon which it fed," Grogan
said. "This kind of vicious cycle, once begun, is impossible to contain.
Fortunately, though, the process can function the same way in reverse: The
successful introduction of a new item can lead to additional items later
on. For example, the proliferation of Love My Carpet-brand carpet cleaner
in hall closets across America would not have been possible without the
introduction of the affordable, easy-to-use Hoover 5.0 upright vacuum
cleaner. And thus, the cycle of life goes on."

According to science writer David Quammen, much of the rise in consumer-
product diversity is a direct result of the decrease in biodiversity.

"When a species vanishes, the world loses not only that species, but the
wide range of highly specialized physical and biochemical functions that
species served. These ecological losses necessitate the creation of new,
synthetic products capable of serving the same functions," Quammen said.
"So, for example, when we lose a strain of microbe that filters the water
we drink, we compensate by developing the amazing Brita water filter, with
its patented filtration technology. When we lose a plant in the jungles of
Indonesia whose berry bears an extremely rare nutrient, we develop in its
place fruity, fun-to-eat Flintstones chewable vitamin supplements."

Read the EPA report: "The planet Earth stands on the brink of one of the
most devastating global extinctions in history. By the year 2040, nearly
two-thirds of all current species will be extinct. Rainforest habitats that
were once lush canopies of life, sustaining millions of highly specialized
and interdependent species of plants and animals, have been reduced by
upwards of 95 percent in some areas. Thankfully, however, retail outlets
which, as little as 50 years ago, were the domain of only a handful of basic
staple goods, have evolved into lush, highly developed supermarkets and
department stores with a nearly limitless abundance of consumer goods."

Environmental and business leaders cheered the report's optimistic findings,
but they warn that consumers still have their work cut out for them.

"As our ecological resources continue to disappear, we must all do our
part," Quaker Oats CEO Reuben McCall said. "That means diligent,
conscientious commitment to increased consumption of new products. If these
products are not bought, nobody will manufacture them. And if this were to
happen, the damage to the precious diversity of our consumer landscape would
be disastrous."

Visit to the dentist

2008-01-15T17:21:00.000Z

Had my 5 remaining top teeth pulled today and have been fitted with a plate.
Not the nicest of experiences, I got some valium from the doctor's - coz I have a bit of a dentist phobia.

It feels a bit weird - sometimes when I talk, the plate drops down, making me sound strange. Still I am glad it is done.

The whole process was helped, by the fact that, I had a very good dentist.

2007-12-14T18:15:00.000Z

I now have a frogpad in Linux again, it arrived this morning! I'm well pleased so I am telling the world with it.

Played in a chess match last night in Loughborough, which I am pleased to say I won.

just in case anyone is interested, here is my game.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bd3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8.
O-O O-O 9. Kh1 b5 10. a3 Nbd7 11. Qf3 Bb7 12. Nd5 Rc8 13. Be3 Nxd5 14. exd5
Nf6 15. Be4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 f5 17. Qd3 e4 18. Qe2 Bxd5 19. Nd4 Bc4 20. Qh5
Qe8 21. Qxe8 Rcxe8 22. Rfe1 f4 23. Bc1 Bd5 24. Ne2 Bg5 25. Nc3 Ba8 26. Na2
d5 27. Bd2 d4 28. Bb4 Rf5 29. Rad1 Rd5 30. Nc1 Bf6 31. Ne2 g5 32. Ba5 Re6
33. Bc7 Rc6

Good night funkmasters

ps

I had the black bits

He3 in the news

2007-12-03T12:49:00.000Z

Different parts of the Earth are composed of a variety of elements in varying amounts. Earth’s crust contains a variety of noble gases, one of those being helium. Natural helium occurs as two isotopes, helium-4 (4He) and helium-3 (3He.) Typically, helium-4 is more abundant in Earth’s crust, whereas helium-3 is more abundant in the mantle below. Thus, the helium-3/helium-4 ratio of the gas found in groundwater can provide an indication of the extent to which the water has interacted with volcanic rocks derived from the mantle.

From

In short. it enables us establish sites that are suitable for geothermal energy.

Formula one

2007-07-22T15:35:00.000+01:00

I have long been a fan of formula one motor racing.

For many years I watched it on the Beeb, then it ended up on ITV.

I could not believe the decision of the ITV to show advertisements in a live event.

I was that annoyed I stopped watching it.

Since Lewis Hamilton has shown such promise. I have been watching it again, but get hot under the collar when they interrupt my watching with an inane advert.

I have found an online petition here

Please sign it and tell others to sign it

A possible old timer

2007-05-23T21:27:00.000+01:00

I have an original receipt for when I first joined the internet, it is dated 13th October 1995, as times grow on, in terms of the number of different number of uses, that us bumbling bipeds can put the internet too, I find more warming some of these, the very idea that we can share knowledge exciting. I find the idea that we can share resources even more exciting, I ask you?

After all we all share this ball of dirt, don't we?

The latest thing I have come across that excites me, is freecycle, instead of throwing things away, people give things away. I used to work at Sita in Leicester where I did the ultimate clean up job. Many people have lovely homes, polished palaces of hunky dory, but the amount of garbage these palaces produce is alarming.

Freecycle is awesome.

The same kind of thing could lead to people bartering their skill sets, obviously the people who's only skillset, is the skillset of being able to rip off the rest of humanity will not like this idea, after all, they are better than the rest of us.

Give and take is the mark of a cultured society, closed societies do not grow. Dynamic is change dynamic, as we get older we like change less, but as we get older and older, we get more listened too. The trouble is we see, that which we only want to see sometimes.

Self kiddology is an art form

I will ask my dad if he minds me putting his picture on my blog

Wheels update

2007-05-21T19:04:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow will mean, it has been three weeks since I first got my car. The first weekend I did something I had wanted to do for ages, I drove down to see my daughter in London taking Fred my parrot as well. The next weekend I did little and more or less, went nowhere.

The weekend just gone, I drove down to visit my father with a couple of friends. My father lives in Weymouth, Dorset, which is about two hundred miles south from where I live. It has been about ten years since I was a professional driver, so I was a bit rusty when I first got my car.

It did not take that long for me to acclimatize to controlling a car again, but acclimatizing to motorways again proved to be rather embarrasing, I settled into a too relaxed attitude driving down the M1 and forgot to watch for the signposts. I drove past my correct motorway exit, with nary a thought. So then I redfacedly backtracked and handed over to my co-driver, the journey continued without incidence and we arrived at my fathers early Saturday afternoon.

My father was rather mystified by my parrot 'coz he had never met my parrot before, he assumed having met one parrot, he had met them all, all he kept saying was, "why is he so quiet?" The thing is, my brother has a cockatiel who is very noisy and because my dad assumed that all parrots were noisy, he assumed my parrot is noisy, my parrot is too cautious to draw attention to himself by being noisy.

Coming home was a different kettle of fish, to going to my dad's, I got behind the wheel and the old lorry driver mentality clicked in, the miles seem to fly by, the agreement was that we swapped drivers when we reached Oxford but somehow I was never sure when I got to Oxford, and somehow when I saw the Evan's lift tower in Northhampton it seemed that I already was home, my hands were glued to the steering wheel and I drove all the way back, in one fell swoop.

I did not buy any Weymouth rock for a souveneir, but instead took a photo, of the sea in front of Weymouth beach.

Moving links

2007-05-15T00:09:00.000+01:00

Regulars to my dollyknot website will have noted the update. I started dollyknot in its current form around 2001 and I last moved the moving links, about six months ago. I have checked out some of my earliest links and they still work. Perhaps you might like to visit them and reminisce. If you find any dead links email me and I will delete them.

Poodle fakeing

2007-04-27T11:24:00.000+01:00

In cockney rhyming slang, a Quaker was known as a poodle faker, an enterprising Japanese company has gone one step further

my wheels

2007-04-25T00:49:00.000+01:00

as promised

Simplified Spelling

2007-04-18T17:34:00.000+01:00

Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

Wheels

2007-04-10T22:29:00.000+01:00

In Sept 1998 I had a stroke, this did not disable me that much, it just meant I found walking more difficult and it changed me from being right handed to being left handed. What really disabled me, was COPD aka Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Desease. This means I get very out of breath after doing very little. This desease is caused in the main by smoking. I gave up smoking over a year ago.

Due to enormous pressure from my darling daughter, I instigated procedures to be declared officially disabled, which means I qualify for more state benefits, one benefit is the motability scheme, which basically means, the state in its infinite wisdom has decided I qualify for a car, so instead of being cooped up in this damn room, day in day out, I can get about again. I do not exactly know when the car arrives, but rest assured, when it does there will be a photo of me sitting in it, on this 'ere blog.

Chess news

2006-12-18T14:16:00.000Z

I have long loved chess and have long considered it a sport and not a game, the difference being a game involves luck, there is virtually no luck in chess. The fantastic news is, that chess has been officially declared a sport in the UK. This means that it can be put on the curriculum in schools and possibly receive lottery funding. Here is the news flash

Reasons why Microsoft is

2006-12-16T15:55:00.001Z

Hated

The Policeman's Blog

2006-12-08T13:02:00.000Z

The Policeman's Blog

The Thrilling Wonder Story: Anguished English, part 2: Silly Metaphors & Analogies

2006-10-24T18:35:00.000+01:00

The Thrilling Wonder Story: Anguished English, part 2: Silly Metaphors & Analogies

Polygynous Blessings

2006-10-22T20:48:00.000+01:00

Polygynous Blessings

2006-10-21T04:32:00.000+01:00

Eat your way (a little) up the food chain in this nifty flash game with moody sound. Guide your creature with the mouse, the red flower goes up a level, the blue flower goes down a level, double click to go faster. Play against a dark background with this link. Shame it has no ending, just leaves you wanting more after about 10 levels.

Funny clip

2006-10-21T04:24:00.000+01:00

If this video gets deleted before you see it try these alternate links 1...2...3...

Non-Trad-vertising

2006-10-21T04:12:00.000+01:00

This link has a lot of pictures and may take a while to load, its a collection of adverts. Since advertisements are omnipresent we develop a kind of immunity to them. Some of thest are quite clever, but will they make me more likely to buy their stuff, probably not really.
Its not updated everyday however there is a lot of content. Wait a while for the page to load, you may think your browser has crashed

Don To Earth

2006-10-19T18:31:00.000+01:00

Don To Earth
Born in 1913!

More biography

2006-10-09T12:47:00.000+01:00

Ever since I was a young lad I have loved chess. It really annoys me the lack of coverage of the reunification match between Kramnic and Topalov being played at this moment in time in Russia in the British media.

You can read about it here.

Although I have loved chess for most of my life, I have only played proper tournament chess once. I wrote an email about it on the 6 Aug 2001. This is it.

Hello,

I once played in a chess tournament, the H E Atkins memorial tournament to be precise, but once was enough for me, a very interesting experience though. The year I played they held it in the ball room of the Grand Hotel, so it was a good setting. To those that have never attended a chess tourament, it can seem very peculiar, you enter a big room and the first thing that hits you is the silence, which is weird because there are a lot of people in there. One usually associates lots of people, with lots of noise, like a darts match or something. Certtainly after being a spectator for a while I came to the conclusion it was like watching paint dry or grass grow, but a different perspective ensued when I actually got to play.

Not having a grade, I played in the duffers section. Or the minors as it was termed. I had my first opponent, a twelve year old lad, I can remember him now, peering up at me. So the pair of us set off, both of us playing real careful, we ended up in a position where he had one half of the board and I had the other, both of us behind solid pawns structures in the middle, the position was locked solid, after what seemed like an eternity of aimless wood pushing, I offered the kid a draw, which he declined. So the aimless pushing wood continued, after a while I started to get a bit annoyed, thinking to myself can't he see it's a draw? Which motivated me to make a rash move with a pawn in the center, the little devil was all over me like a rash, he managed to get a pawn to a position, where he could exchange it for a queen, on his next move, in his excitement, he failed to see I had pinned his pawn against his queen with my queen, so as he queened the pawn, my queen took his queen. He was that mortified he burst into tears, quietly of couse. I subsequently discovered he had been the under twelve champion of somewhere or other, so in a sense I got off lightly. He had a won position but blew it.

On to my next oponent, a middle aged lady, I beat her as well. I played the sicilian, she really made my knights dance but could not wear them out.

The amusing thing about the system of, who plays who, is it forms a ladder where you play the person next to you in score, that if you beat that person, you move up the ladder and to the left, and if you lose you move down the ladder and to the right, the way the seating was arranged was if you won, you got more space to play in, and if you lost, less space to play in, bit of a micrcosm of society really, the more you lost, the more you headed towards the slums. At the top of the ladder you had your own seperate table to play on, wow, out in the leafy suburbs or what!

Then to my third opponent, by this time I had a little bit of confidence,
well after putting a twelve year kid under my belt and an innocent old lady. I was playing a guy about twenty two years old. I started for the first time in my life to play real chess. I was very very focused. I remember looking at my watch at one time and seeing an hour go past, in the seeming blink of an eyelid, how different ones time sense was, from watching, to actually playing. Another thing I remember was calculating to such a depth, it made my brain warm, I knew this because I started to sweat, I've often wondered if being bald is an evolutionary adaptation to the problem caused by the brain overheating due to an excess of use, and the problems getting rid of all that excess heat with all that hair in the way.

I actually achieved some spectators as well, my finest chess moment. I found a very deep combination, that started with me sacrificing a minor piece and about five moves later, winning back two of his minor piece's and it worked a treat, after that, it was a relatively simple operating mopping up, 'till he threw in the towel.

Three straight wins in a row and I had made it to the top table, then I met a chess hustler. Every proper chess player gets a grade, the tournament you play in, is dictated by your grade, I was playing in the under 130 grade because I didn't have a grade. What some players will do is judiciously lose enough club games to keep their grade below 130, so they can enter the minor's and possibly win some prize money.

This guy didn't beat me with chess, he beat me with psychology, what he did was play a very drawish opening, then waste nearly all of the time on his clock, he wandered off for ages and ages, there is nothing in the rules to stop you doing anything you wanted to, as long as it was not either noisy or distracting to the players. I can't remember, the amount of time you where given to the first time control, something like an hour and half for the 30 odd, moves. Well enough time, to go for a meal, do some shopping like, as long as you returned before the flag fell, no problem. He left it to the last couple of minutes, before he started to play, of course by now, I was a bit rattled by his strange behaviour with him dissapearing all the time, I ask you? He had got me so impatient to get on with it, that I started to play as quickly as him, and made a silly error and lost, which was dopey, because I had loads of time left on my clock, I analysed the game at a later date, with accurate play on both sides it would have been a draw at worst, and he had such little time left, I might have beat him on time, it was now my turn to feel mortified.

Nerves shot, I lost the next two games as well. One clear recollection I had of the whole episode of three days , was feeling completely knackered at the end of it, a very intense experience indeed. It was also my realisation that if I was going to do anything to furthering my chess carreer, I would have to devote a lot more of my mental powers to sudying chess, than I was devoting to learning about computers, driving trucks, reading like a drain, and arguing about philosophy and bringing up a family, I'm afraid the chess lost out, but I often wonder if I had beaten that guy, would my life have taken a different turn?

Birthday

2006-10-01T14:29:00.000+01:00

This blog is now one year old, happy birthday blog!

Success

2006-09-30T13:46:00.000+01:00

African greys like to climb, so I had a friend suspend a wooden parrot, from the ceiling above Fred's cage, the next job was to convince him to climb aboard. As you can see in the photo this he has done. The way I got him to do it was, to tie a sprig of broccolli onto the rope holding the wooden parrot above his reach, so he had to climb aboard to reach it yaay.

The thing is, african greys make very good companions but not very good pets, they have a nasty bite, they tend to be destructive and if you do not treat them right they can become neurotic.

One of the reasons I ended up with Fred was the people who had him before me, did not have a clue, they only let him out of his cage now and again, not that I blame them, they had two young children and probably did not know that an african grey does not make a good pet, in the sense that a dog, cat, or budgie can make a good pet. I feel that I did not buy Fred I rescued him.

1981 priced beer - this Thursday only

2006-09-26T17:35:00.000+01:00

This broke blogger doesn't drink a lot of booze, I've probably had about 10 pints this year but I was intrigued when I heard an item on 6Music last night that beer prices are set to be reduced in pubs for this Thursday. Apparently its the 25th anniversary of something I didn't hear properly and beer will be approx 64p a pint, the same price as 25 years ago. As I said I didn't hear it properly, and have searched unsuccessfully for more information, but I'm sure to venture to the local later this week for a few cheap scoops.
If this is an attempt to kerb binge drinking, its not going to work duh

2006-09-26T17:08:00.000+01:00

First post from new contributor. Thanks for having me on board P!

This short video illustrates the fun to be had with the Picco-Z helicopter available for £30. Sure its fun, sure its small, but its not the smallest

Episode two

2006-09-20T12:30:00.000+01:00

In January 1975 I passed my heavy goods driving licence and became a truck driver. The one thing that kind of kept me sane whilst driving a truck, was BBC radio 4 One of my favourate programs was midweek, I especially liked the presenter Libby Purvis mainly because she usually had very interesting people on her show. Today was a good example, you can listen to the program again here One guest I found very interesting, was an ambulance man named Tom Reynolds who has a very interesting blog

One of the interesting bits I came across on Tom's blog was this post
it makes me glad I *own* my own domain, heh heh dollyknot is my domain.

About me

2006-09-13T18:21:00.000+01:00

The thing is about a blog is, what do you write about? Well, I have decided to write what I know the most about - namely me! To put it in a nut shell, I am going to do a sort of autobiography, being that I was born in 1949 up to this time I have 57 years to write about. Unlike most biographies I am not going to start at the beginning I start my account in 1966 with a photograph.

The first job I had when I left school at 15 in the summer of 1964 was at at a firm called Lancashire Dynamo situated in Oxted Surrey.

Around christmas time in 1964, a welder who worked at Lancashire Dynamo told me he had been in the merchant navy, he told me about the life of a merchant seaman, my interest was piqued. In April 1965 I joined the merchant navy, and trained in the art of seamanship at a place called Sharpness in Gloustershire. The official title of the training establishment was TS Vindicatrix (if you want to google it).

The first ship I sailed on was the MV Port Sydney and I sailed to Australia and back. My second voyage was on the Loch Gowan, the photograph at the head of this piece of writing is of the ships bell, before I polished it, it had not been polished for years, it took me hours to put that shine on it.

Words my parrot says

2006-09-12T15:00:00.000+01:00

I'm writing this, because he said a new word today. Today, he clearly said "bugger" so his vocabulary is hopefully going to grow. Todate I have heard him say, give us a kiss, hello, come on, good boy, bugger.

The punks of mud

2006-09-11T22:50:00.000+01:00

The punks of mud think that all people can be bought, with regards to their sense of honour.

Rats

2006-09-11T22:47:00.001+01:00

Dirty rats run our ball of mud

Callousness

2006-09-11T22:40:00.000+01:00

Is horrified as to how callous the people who run our planet are

News flash

2006-09-11T21:18:00.001+01:00

Rich selfish punks run our planet.

Talking

2006-09-04T17:10:00.000+01:00

dogs

Steve Irwin

2006-09-04T15:25:00.000+01:00

Cannot believe the news or my reaction, I was only watching him on ITV last night and thinking, why does the guy have to over-emphasise so much, he had a really annoying delivery, but the thing was - if I knew he was on the box I usually watched him.

I think the thing was, I liked him much more than I thought I did, his loss is a tragedy for the world. The response on the 'net has been surprising, all the major websites have lots of coverage about him, the man was much more of an icon than anyone realised. As is always, like the line in the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi "That you don't know what you've got Till its gone".

Steve being kissed by a gorilla (says it all really).

Comparing India and China

2006-08-31T20:58:00.000+01:00

I was surfing Digg, and I saw this link so I commented thus :-

This article is rubbish. Modern China started on 1st October 1949, modern India started on 15 August 1947. So both countries have been existing in their current form a comparable amount of time. Read this to find out how much China is ahead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5181024.stm

Chairman Mao started out with the concept of the iron rice bowl, this policy ensured that no one starved. Freedom is nonsensical when you are starving. The point is, it is not about left wing - right wing, but the balance between the right to do as one pleases, and that the right of the individual to do as they please, be curtailed in terms of the public good.

A Slashdot five

2006-08-31T13:37:00.000+01:00

In the year 2002 I achieved a five score on slashdot, this is the highest score for a comment that you can get on slashdot and as I made the comment as an anomynous coward, made it all the more pleasurable.

The five meant my comment was read by thousands of people, because of the moderation filter.

Read on Slashdot here

This is the comment.

About 500 years ago, a guy named Martin Luther decided to translate the Bible into German, thus was born the Protestant revolution. The point being, that before this, if you were German and could not read Latin, you had to have a priest translate the words of God AKA the Bible.

A Brit named William Tyndale had the same idea, he printed 50 copies of the Bible *in English*, the establishment was that shocked at this idea, they burnt him at the stake. Probably because they thought the idea of the common people having direct access to the 'holy writ' would lead to them thinking for themselves and having dangerous ideas.

How like the current debate between open source and closed source this all sounds. Just substitute operating system for Bible, money for God, the stock market for the Holy Roman Empire and Bill Gates as the Pope and it all lines up.

Awesome interface

2006-08-25T15:58:00.000+01:00

Forget your mouse, forget your keyboard, this is the future

Call that tap dancing

2006-08-23T11:01:00.000+01:00

No this is tap dancing.

Don't like try tap dancing? Try a person juggling a person

Open versus closed

2006-08-14T16:10:00.000+01:00

This guy writes a collosal amount of of sense about the difference between closed source and open source.

Links to Penn and Teller Bullshit: Links to 23 Penn and Teller: Bullshit episodes

2006-08-10T13:12:00.000+01:00

Links to Penn and Teller Bullshit: Links to 23 Penn and Teller: Bullshit episodes

Pynchon

2006-08-03T23:00:00.000+01:00

Pynchon

Rongomaiwahine Higgins

2006-08-03T22:51:00.000+01:00

Rongomaiwahine Higgins

Talking

2006-07-31T15:43:00.000+01:00

Cats

This girl seems to be made of

2006-07-31T13:34:00.000+01:00

Rubber

Angry Astronomer: The Big Bang – Common Misconceptions

2006-07-30T13:26:00.000+01:00

Angry Astronomer: The Big Bang – Common Misconceptions

Political argument

2006-07-27T23:18:00.000+01:00

Capitalism vs Communism

Watch this guy

2006-07-27T13:24:00.000+01:00

Dance

Amazing surfing video

2006-07-23T12:09:00.000+01:00

here

African grey videos

2006-07-15T14:58:00.000+01:00

Here

Gruesome pictures from Indian train bombs

2006-07-14T16:24:00.000+01:00

The Mumbai Marauder

Stocking on head reaction

2006-07-14T15:36:00.000+01:00

Translation test

2006-07-14T12:15:00.000+01:00

Out of curiosity I typed "time flys like an arrow, fruit flies like a bannana" into the google translator then set it to translate that into German, back came "Zeit flys wie ein Pfeil, Fruchtfliegen wie ein bannana festsetzen". So I then pasted that into the translate box, and instructed the translator to translate that into French, back came "Le temps flys que une flèche, mouches de fruit comme bannana déterminer" I then got it to translate that back into English, back came "Time flys that an arrow, flies of fruit like bannana to determine"

I guess translator technology has some way to go.

Bono question

2006-07-08T22:07:00.000+01:00

Bono asks the Yahoo community this question .

The answer is very simple, how many people does it take to change a light bulb?

Design it, build it, deliver it - the rest is information.

Work, the expenditure of energy to the benefit of others, that cannot be achieved by automation and machinery.

A lot of people who seem to run society seem to want their cake and eat it. In other words, a lot of parasites seem to run society.

Amazing table tennis

2006-07-08T16:56:00.000+01:00

This || That SHiT: Most amazing football Goal Ever!

2006-06-28T21:10:00.000+01:00

This || That SHiT: Most amazing football Goal Ever!