tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31556142011-04-22T01:16:31.841ZNew Realitiestechnology, politics and the futureIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comBlogger1201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-1099154837587371762004-10-30T16:47:00.000Z2004-10-30T16:55:33.970ZEvolving humans had tiny 'Hobbit' cousins till very recentlyFossils of around eight very small human-like creatures have been found on the Indonesia island of Flores. Reports in Nature suggest they walked upright and had fire, tools and probably language. But even the adults were only the height of a three-year old child, and had a brain just a quarter the size of a modern human. What's more, theIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-1098920884898510702004-10-27T23:48:00.000Z2004-10-28T01:01:40.023ZGM cat promises relief to allergy sufferersBut is it ethically correct? Nice story in The Scotsman about an attempt to breed a genetically-modified pet that won't make people sneeze. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-1085445133291466502004-05-25T00:32:00.000Z2004-05-25T00:32:13.290ZIraq - could it get worse for the US?This highly critical assessment by an anonymous Washington insider of how things are going in Iraq suggests it could. Two possibilities in particular could make the US position even more difficult:1. Iranian intervention"Perceived oppression of Iraq's 60-percent Shiite majority could lead to massive and sustained Iranian intervention. Given the Coalition's Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-1085423804981090902004-05-24T18:36:00.000Z2004-05-24T18:49:58.480ZNuclear 'now only way to stop global warming'James Lovelock, one of the most respected and scientifically credible figures in the green movement, has urged a rethink on nuclear power. Writing in the Independent, he says that nuclear power is now the only practical way to stop global warming. "Global warming, like a fire, is accelerating and almost no time is left to act. We have no time to Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-952332962003-06-03T12:18:00.000Z2004-05-24T16:06:57.163ZOther good recent linksSo much for the freelance economyWired muses pessimistically on the collapse of guru.com, an online marketplace where IT contractors and others were supposed to find people eager to outsource to them. Sees it as failure of 'e-lance' idea and restructuring of the firm rather than simply economic cycle.State of contentThis UK take on the same event puts it in the context of aIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-952224712003-06-03T04:25:00.000Z2003-06-03T12:20:07.620ZPepys reloaded
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, reposted day-by-day as if it were a weblog. It's currently at 2 June 1660, and 3 June should appear later today.
It's the 300 anniversary of Pepys' death this year.
In fact by my calculations the actual anniversary is tomorrow - he died on May 26th, but when we switched to the Gregorian calendar (in 1752) we dropped 11 days.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-952195362003-06-03T03:10:00.000Z2003-06-03T03:15:31.230ZWater may stymie Arab-Israeli peace accord
Interesting background facts (and maps) from the independent US defence analyst Chuck Spinney. He thinks it's going to be very hard to have peace in the Middle East without dealing with the water issue, but at the moment the roadmap has little to say about it.
The problem is that Israel consumes more water than it can replenish within its pre-1967 Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-952148542003-06-03T01:04:00.000Z2003-06-03T03:13:11.306ZMost bloggers "are teenage girls"
The Register reports on a survey done in Poland. "Over 60 per cent of Polish blogs are written by women and a staggering three quarters are written by teenagers or younger."
A survey published by Pew Research back in April about how Americans used the Internet during the Iraq war supports the view that weblog readership is low, and that weblogs are mainly of Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-943939972003-05-15T15:24:00.000Z2003-05-15T20:21:55.163ZAn ocean empty of fish?
Industrialised fishing has changed the world's oceans to such an extent that the sea can no longer be considered a natural system, according to a major 10-year-long study published in the science journal Nature. Stocks of the large predatory species have literally been decimated - only 10 per cent remain.
"We are in massive denial and continue to bicker over the last Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-899753222003-03-02T00:51:00.000Z2003-03-02T14:28:39.000ZAttack of the heavyweight hawks
Amazingly, you can predict a country's policy on Iraq from how fat its people are. The Bush administration draws its support, at least in the developed world, from the countries with the fattest populations.
If you look at this 2002 health report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, what's striking is how close the correlation is.
Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-899477312003-03-01T09:35:00.000Z2003-03-01T10:56:06.000ZIraq may have got rid of weapons already
The vast majority of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were destroyed soon after the Gulf War, according to a defector who has been publicly praised by Bush, Blair and Powell. What's more the Americans and British have known this since 1995, but have been keeping strangely silent about it.
These allegations have been made by Glen Rangwala, the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-899285992003-02-28T23:57:00.000Z2003-03-01T01:48:08.000ZNew warning on identity theft
Job site Monster.com has sent users an email warning them of the danger of identity theft. Apparently fraudsters have been luring people into revealing personal information by posting fake job adverts
The danger of identity theft has been thrown into sharp relief by the case of 72-year-old British holidaymaker Derek Bond, who has just returned to the UK after beingIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-887839382003-02-09T04:30:00.000Z2003-02-09T04:30:00.836ZNorth Dakota found to be harboring nuclear missiles. reports the OnionIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-887223792003-02-07T20:21:00.000Z2003-03-01T10:50:17.000ZRussians win top spot in UK music chart
What with peace-mongering Germans refusing to go to war and sylphlike Russian females riding high in the pop charts, national stereotypes are taking something of a hammering at the moment. The pop babes are Tatu, a teen duo of apparently lesbian tendencies who have just taken the number one spot in the UK singles chart, ahead of acts such as Kelly Rowland Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-885853452003-02-05T12:04:00.000Z2003-03-01T07:32:32.000ZChina and US military still committed to space
Following the loss of the shuttle Columbia last Saturday there's been a lot written about the future of manned space flight - and most of it has been pretty negative. Either they'll be a long delay before such flights resume, or the commentators question the need for sending humans aloft at all. The future of the International Space Station looks Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-874257392003-01-14T17:28:00.000Z2003-01-14T17:28:08.666ZThe Internet, at least, is innocent
Good comment piece by Libby Purves in The Times (of London) about the Pete Townsend case. It's written cautiously, to comply with UK law, but still clearly expresses an opinion. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-874181082003-01-14T14:32:00.000Z2003-01-14T17:34:12.000ZStrange death of the American press
What's happened to the quality of journalism in US newspapers in the 30 years since the heyday of investigative reporting at the time of Watergate? Matthew Engel argues in the Guardian that it's in devastating decline.
The papers are verbose, formulaic and wretchedly designed. "And political courage is especially rare", he writes. "The supposedly liberal Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-871113312003-01-08T13:47:00.000Z2003-01-08T13:51:02.000ZUN prepares for half a million Iraqi casualties
About half a million people will suffer some form of injury and three million will become malnourished if war in Iraq goes ahead, according to a confidential UN planning document.
The draft report, called "Likely Humanitarian Scenarios", was prepared in December by an unknown UN agency. It has been leaked by the Campaign Against Sanctions on IraqIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-863196972002-12-20T14:52:00.000Z2002-12-20T22:46:52.000ZOil price hits two-year high
Though western strategic oil stocks are probably at their best-ever level, the oil price has started to climb alarmingly. The worry is that supplies will be disrupted by two problems simultaneously - an Iraq war and strikes in Venezuela.
However, for this to really happen the Venezuelan political crisis would have to keep going for months. Because Venezuela is Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-849244082002-11-22T14:39:00.000Z2002-11-22T15:02:45.986ZChina: boom or bust?
Red Herring has some good articles about China, including two that put the case for boom and bust scenarios.
Intro: technology companies are dashing to China in search of salvation and sales. Red star rising the economy is booming. The coming collapse but on the basis of banking practices, corruption and social division that cannot be sustained.
Red Herring also reports Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-848406902002-11-20T23:57:00.000Z2002-11-21T00:39:18.936ZTech gloom likely to continue
Because of over-investment in technology in the late 1990s, technology spending is likely to lag even when the US economy picks up, according to Carlos Bonilla, special assistant to President George W. Bush for economic policy. He was speaking at Comdex in Las Vegas, which is the IT industry's most important trade show.
"There is decades' worth of fiber optics outIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-845373372002-11-14T18:54:00.000Z2002-11-14T18:54:06.653ZHigh civilian death toll likely in Iraqi war
Any war in Iraq is likely to prove fatal to large numbers of the region's civilians, according to a report by UK health charity Medact. In the worst-case scenario, nuclear weapons are fired on Iraq in response to a chemical or biological attack on Kuwait or Israel, leaving nearly four million dead. But even in the best case of a rapid Iraqi surrenderIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-830692182002-10-16T16:51:00.000Z2002-10-16T18:36:38.693ZCrop circles of the year
Photographer Steve Alexander has images of many of this year's best crop circles on his web site. Crop circles are patterns that mysteriously appear overnight in the fields, particularly in southern England. Since the patterns are destroyed when the crops are harvested the 2002 season is now over.
Crop circles are made by people rather than aliens, but for me that Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-825621852002-10-05T17:32:00.000Z2002-10-05T17:38:14.526ZWhy America needs the oil
More than 20 million Americans are driving gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs), and the number is rising fast. These large four-wheel drive vehicles have been the great success story of the US auto industry over the last decade, and while ordinary cars have been getting steadily more fuel efficient, the switch to SUVs is a move in the opposite direction.
In a Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-824818802002-10-03T20:22:00.000Z2002-10-03T20:22:01.896ZWeblog authors won't make money
Weblogs are producing a mass amateurisation of publishing, according to Clay Shirky, rather than a mass of new publishing professionals. Very few people will make money out of being a weblog author, at least not directly. Shirky compares it to the paradox of oxygen and gold. "Oxygen is more vital to human life than gold, but because air is abundant, oxygen is freeIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-824267242002-10-02T18:18:00.000Z2002-10-02T23:18:19.886ZBlondes get a reprieve
Blondes aren't about to become extinct after all - at least there's been no authoritative new research to that effect, despite widespread reports to the contrary. The story is now International media caught by dumb blonde joke, to give the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's version of events.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer asks how the extinction story went unchecked. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-823891262002-10-01T23:55:00.000Z2002-10-02T00:13:43.333Z3,000 languages headed for extinction
At least a quarter and possibly as many as three-quarters of the 6,000 or so languages now spoken on Earth will disappear over the coming century. Every two weeks a language becomes extinct as the last person to speak it dies without passing it on, according to Lost for Words, a BBC radio series.
The series is currently going out on one of the BBC's Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-819347262002-09-22T02:40:00.000Z2002-09-22T02:40:43.896ZUS adopts first-strike strategy
In future the US is going to be more prepared to shoot first and go it alone without allies, according to a strategy statement presented by president Bush to congress on Friday. Pre-emptive military strikes, previously regarded by the US itself as against international law except in very limited circumstances, are now seen as legitimate in many more cases. More onIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-818435532002-09-19T23:01:00.000Z2002-09-19T23:12:44.203ZAir car makes its debut
Powered by compressed air contained in tanks under the body, Aircar is intended to provide low-cost, pollution-free urban transport.
The company behind it, French-based Motor Development International, claims the vehicle can reach a speed of over 60 miles per hour, and can go for over 120 miles before the tanks need refilling. This takes four hours using the built-in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-818332182002-09-19T18:46:00.000Z2002-09-19T18:46:19.973ZPop fragmenting
Interesting article in Prospect magazine from the drummer of defunct UK art-house band Gay Dad about the problems of the music industry. There's no doubt that turnover worldwide is down, and that the UK industry has got itself into an even deeper crisis. The question is why, and what happens next.
"With the rise of MTV and the internet, many believed that music culture would Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-818204122002-09-19T13:26:00.000Z2002-09-19T18:13:03.326ZAfrica heads for oil boom
Africa already provides about 15 percent of the United States' crude oil imports, and this is likely to rise to 25 percent within the next 10 years as offshore reserves come on stream, according to an article in the New York Times.
Most of the production comes from sub-Saharan countries that have direct access to the Atlantic, such as Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-817685032002-09-18T12:09:00.000Z2002-09-18T12:14:00.616ZWar could cost London £1 billion
London's bill for toppling Saddam Hussein could be at least £1 billion, according to a report issued by the Mayor's office.
In the Gulf War of 1991 the most severe impact on London was the loss of US visitors too scared to fly. Numbers were down by 30 percent. If the same thing happens this time, the report puts the cost to London at over £1 billion in lost Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-816883692002-09-16T20:43:00.000Z2002-09-17T10:57:43.136ZUS diplomats doing their job?
It's the job of diplomats to keep their government informed of anything likely to inflame feeling against their country. So presumably diplomats working at the US embassy in London think Londoners will sympathise with their attempts to avoid paying the new fiver-a-day congestion charge that's the centrepiece of a pioneering road-pricing scheme due to go live in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-816808972002-09-16T17:48:00.000Z2002-09-17T10:39:44.223ZOverlooking worst-case in Iraq.
Just read this comment piece in last week's New York Times - Imagining the Worst-Case Scenario in Iraq. Author Milton Viorst argues that there's a chance that Saddam may pre-emptively invade Saudi Arabia, or launch a chemical, biological or nuclear strike on Israel before the US arrives in force in the region. The weakness in Bush's strategy is that it relies on Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-815150502002-09-12T17:56:00.000Z2002-09-12T18:01:40.150Zw:bloggar is good
Now I've got two futures weblogs going (the other is Uncertain Futures), I can go off-topic more often on this one.
I just started using w:bloggar, something of no interest to anyone except other webloggers. What it lets you do is write items off-line, without being connected to the Internet. You can then upload them later to services like Blogger, Movable Type or Drupal.
I Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-815127152002-09-12T16:57:00.000Z2002-09-12T17:08:37.120ZInteresting business model
A Tchibo coffee shop has appeared on my local High Street (Sutton, a suburb nine miles south of central London in the UK).
What's interesting is that it also sells other consumer goods on a rolling basis. Every Wednesday a new set of products organised around a single theme appear in the coffee shop-window. This week it's natural-themed house wares and bedding, next Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-814509392002-09-11T11:43:00.000Z2002-09-11T11:45:57.706ZWhat the US military learned in Afghanistan
The New York Times has interviews with heads of all four US services about what they've learned from Afghanistan [free but registration required].
Briefly:
Integration between army, navy, marines and air force is accelerating - everything is 'joint' now.
The US Marines are turning from an amphibious force into a rapid-reaction expeditionary force Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-814305822002-09-11T01:05:00.000Z2002-09-11T01:37:09.620ZSwiss join UN - but not EU
Switzerland finally joined the United Nations yesterday. It's unlikely to join the European Union in the foreseeable future, according to the Economist - the Swiss people wouldn't approve. But has already become a pseudo-member, with close economic ties. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-814144182002-09-10T18:20:00.000Z2002-09-10T18:20:29.000ZPC recovery delayed
IDC has changed its estimate of when PC sales will recover from their present stagnant condition. The US research firm doesn't expect a significant improvement until the middle of next year - which is later than its previous prediction.
Businesses continue to postpone PC investments, and consumers aren't coming to the rescue. But PC sales are flat rather than in freefall. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-814054352002-09-10T14:32:00.000Z2002-09-10T15:47:21.510ZWhy nanotechnology no longer appeals to investors
This article in the new-look, slimline, humbled Red Herring eventually gets round to discussing why VCs are reluctant to invest in nanotechnology. There's a science risk - maybe the idea won't work, and many projects are far too ambitious. Better to attack existing markets from below than try to change the world.
The article makes a good Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-814028972002-09-10T13:19:00.000Z2002-09-10T14:21:02.630ZNEW WEBLOG BRINGS CHANGES TO THIS ONE
I've started a new weblog called Uncertain Futures. It's focused more tightly on emerging trends and techniques for thinking ahead than this one. It also uses a different platform - Movable Type rather than Blogger.
At the moment there's considerable overlap between the blogs, but I intend giving each its own identity.
Uncertain Futures concentrates on Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-813998642002-09-10T11:17:00.000Z2002-09-10T14:45:12.000ZCold starch good anti-cancer agent
Another interesting story from the Leicester conference: apparently it's not the high-fibre that's good for us in high-fibre diets, but the uncooked crystalline starch that is often present in the same foods.
According to Professor John Burn, this form of carbohydrate interacts with the bacteria in the lower gut, producing a chemical that affects the way Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-813833142002-09-10T01:46:00.000Z2002-09-10T14:43:54.000ZFat plague here to stay
We're getting fatter in the same way we started getting taller 200 years ago, Professor Andrew Prentice told a science conference in Leicester, England. This change in shape is likely to be permanent. Unfortunately it is not good for us, reducing lifespan so much that today's parents could outlive their increasingly fat children.
"The obesity pandemic is gathering pace Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-813322992002-09-09T00:17:00.000Z2002-09-09T00:17:51.296ZWar game reveals danger of group-think
A recent US military simulation of an attack on a middle-eastern country has raised questions about whether war with Iraq will be the walkover that many expect. The scenario used was a US attack on Iran with an 'n', not Iraq, and in 2007 rather than the immediate future. Plenty of things went wrong, including the loss of much of the attacking American fleetIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-813227292002-09-08T19:25:00.000Z2002-09-08T19:25:51.263ZWinning social innovations
The Institute for Social Inventions is a philanthropic body based in the UK that encourages people to think up ideas for a better world. It has just announced the winners of its 2002 Social Innovations Awards.
The one I like best is Boomerang Day for returning borrowed items, suggested by Tony Paynter.
He suggests we set aside one day a year to search our homes forIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-813002312002-09-08T03:22:00.000Z2002-09-08T13:32:01.423ZGreek game ban sign of deeper law-and-order problem
In an effort to crack down on illegal gambling the Greek government has banned ALL computer games. This has been the cue for much ridicule and indignation around the world. Tourists are being told to steer clear of Greece, where jackbooted police are supposedly roaming the beaches arresting anyone possessing a mobile phone. Has the Greek Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-812539682002-09-06T22:03:00.000Z2002-09-06T22:03:09.006ZDawn of the age of true self assembly
Most of the media have treated this New Scientist story about intelligent self-assembly furniture as a joke, but it has implications that extend well beyond helping puzzled Ikea customers put together their purchases.
What the team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich has done is fit light-activated sensors to the key components that make Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-808174412002-08-28T09:56:00.000Z2002-08-28T12:34:19.000ZCats and dogs innocent
Far from increasing a baby's chances of developing allergies, early childhood exposure to household pets has a protective effect.
'Exposure to two or more cats or dogs in the house during the first year of life reduces the probability that a child would have any positive skin test to common allergens by about 50 percent', according to US medical researcher Dennis Ownby. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-803280132002-08-16T18:26:00.000Z2002-08-16T19:03:26.000ZMad Cow risk not over
Research published last week suggests the risk of catching variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of Mad Cow disease, from blood transfusions is significantly greater than previously supposed. Now British hospitals are to import US blood because of worries that the UK supply may be contaminated.
The blood is to go only to children under six years old. Anyone Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-802054572002-08-13T22:57:00.000Z2002-08-14T01:06:10.000ZMore early ID thieves
In the very first book of the Bible Jacob pretends to be his elder brother Esau. His objective is to trick his blind father Isaac into blessing the wrong son. He accomplishes this by dressing in Esau's clothing and taking dinner to his father, a task normally performed by the senior son.
There have been countless stories involving identity theft in the years since. In theIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-801659542002-08-13T02:29:00.000Z2002-08-14T00:14:54.000ZFeds get tough on ID thieves
Or at least they do according to this piece, written by a Fed on an Internet opinion site. His basic point is that new crimes demand new countermeasures - and they are beginning to arrive, with the courts imprisoning more ID thieves.
He may be right. But I'm not sure that the wider perception that new technology automatically makes us more vulnerable is correct. Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-796881832002-08-01T14:20:00.000Z2002-08-01T15:00:42.000ZBritish Jews rallying to Israel
Most of Britain's 300,000-strong Jewish community are rallying around Israel, according to the Independent. Even those with misgivings about Israeli policy see now as a time to close ranks.
DiscussIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-796858382002-08-01T13:12:00.000Z2002-08-01T13:29:45.000ZArmy equipment unfit for desert war
In any future desert war the British army could face big problems with its equipment. In a recent exercise in the Gulf, guns jammed, boots melted and radios were useless. Tanks ground to a halt after only a few hours, engines clogged with sand.
The problems are catalogued in a report by the UK's National Audit Office into a two-month long exercise that pittedIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-795804372002-07-30T04:24:00.000Z2002-07-30T05:37:29.000ZTiny robots fly in
Scientist are trying to create tiny flying robots the size of insects, reports CNN. Unfortunately the only devices close to insect size that they've built haven't got off the ground yet - currently sheep-size flying robots is as good as it gets.
The problem is that flight at insect scale works on different principles to existing airplanes or helicopters. Though the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-795275322002-07-29T01:12:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:07:27.000ZPerils of prediction
Many predictions turn out wrong. This is particularly true of attempts to look more than five or ten years into the future. Here's a wonderful sequence of images from Horizons, an attraction at EPCOT in Florida closed by Disney Corporation in 1999. It contains a vision of a future filled with cities under the sea and robots doing the vacuum cleaning. Who knows, maybe it willIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-795234482002-07-28T22:51:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:05:18.000ZPopcorn predictions
Came across these 16 trend predictions made by New York-based futurist Faith Popcorn. They were probably made about five years ago to go with her book 'Clicking', but it is interesting to see how many are still valid.
I reckon at least 13 - and possibly as many as 15, still hold true. This is very good considering how many other ideas from that era are now in tatters.
Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-794858322002-07-27T21:08:00.000Z2002-07-27T22:18:04.000ZSaddam and Sharon
Britain and France have told President Bush that they will now support an attack on Iraq, according to the Guardian. 'Senior officials are saying a sudden military strike could be launched as soon as October.'
Apparently the military is confident it can do the job with a much smaller number of troops than during the Gulf War - despite earlier worries that such an approach Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-794506052002-07-26T20:11:00.000Z2002-07-27T00:06:28.000ZSnapshots of the web's past
I've just been playing around with the Wayback Machine. It lets you look through a vast historical archive of the whole web going back to 1996.
At over well 100,000 gigabytes the archive is simply too big to offer Google-like search facilities, so you have to know the web address of the site you are looking for. But it can be fun to look at sites you've been Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-794059532002-07-25T20:01:00.000Z2002-07-26T00:36:01.000ZBetting on the future
I'm amazed that the Flipem site is legal, but apparently it is. It lets you place bets on a wide range of future events, and have the cyber equivalent of betting slips mailed as gifts to people who can then collect real money if they win.
For example, you can bet on the number of commercial jets mothballed in US deserts at the end of August, or on the style of shot that Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-794000612002-07-25T17:32:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:10:07.000ZAfghan heroin trade is booming
The new Afghan government is failing to reduce heroin production, according to a BBC news team that has been inside the country. In many areas only a few token fields have been uprooted. Indeed, poppy production was controlled much more effectively under the Taliban.
There were warnings that this was likely to happen before the Taliban was ousted. The prospect Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-793973282002-07-25T16:21:00.000Z2002-07-30T05:34:42.000ZSpam busting
Will unsolicited email ever be got under control? At the moment I try to keep it down to manageable proportions by giving out different versions of my home email address (I can do this because I have my own domain). Then if one address falls into evil spammer hands I'll know where the spammers got it, and will also be more easily able to filter the spam out.
Spam Motel automates Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-793609312002-07-24T20:20:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:11:53.000ZAsteroids and ice cream
Good coverage of the threat posed by asteroid 2002 NT7 at the BBC, including a forum to reassure worried readers.
There's reassurance of another kind at US ABC News, where Asteroid may hit Earth has to compete with Can an ice cream diet be good for you? Apparently 'dieters can now live the dream'. So we can at least all go on a guilt-free comfort-eating binge.
Real Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-793577382002-07-24T18:57:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:15:10.000ZBusiness leaders with feet of clay
Wonderfully bad-tempered and somewhat unfair attack on Sun's boss Scott McNealy by Michael Thomas at Salon. But his wider complaint is spot on.
What's really annoying Thomas is the dominant ethos of American business over the last decade, which he describes as 'near worship and lavish compensation for people who "make things happen" coupled with near contempt Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-793553732002-07-24T17:57:00.000Z2002-07-29T01:46:02.000ZDivided Israel
Two articles in the always-interesting Israeli daily newspaper Ha`aretz show how current hard-line policies are straining consensus among Israel's supporters.
The first concerns the assassination of Salah Shehadeh, accompanied by the deaths of at least 15 civilians. Amos Harel asks how the decision to go ahead with this questionable operation came about.
His conclusion is thatIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-791478922002-07-19T13:23:00.000Z2002-07-30T04:56:05.000ZWay clear for unpiloted aircraft in UK
Increasing military use of large unpiloted aircraft raises the question of when civilians will get their hands on the technology. Farmers, security firms and academic institutions are all potential uses provided so-called UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are cheap enough and legal.
Until recently the legal problem has been the most serious. But the Civil Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-791459962002-07-19T12:06:00.000Z2002-07-30T04:55:18.000ZSteam plane flying on a beam of light
Scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have taken up the idea of powering aircraft by laser beams from the ground (see report on earlier experiments at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and at the University of Toronto in this blog).
A new wrinkle added by the Tokyo researchers is to use water as the reaction mass rather than air. This would allow Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-787963202002-07-11T00:18:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:20:04.000ZNevada to vote on legal use of cannabis
Voters in Nevada will decide in November whether to let adults legally possess small amounts of marijuana (the preferred US term for cannabis). A petition to put the measure on the ballot has narrowly succeeded with about 75,000 valid signatures.
The Omaha World Herald quotes one of the organisers as saying the result proves that most Nevadans think it'sIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-787881532002-07-10T19:24:00.000Z2002-07-11T01:31:45.000ZGetting the facts right on phones
'Half the people in the world have never made a phone call' is undoubtedly a startling expression. Not surprisingly it has proved very popular with politicians and corporate leaders. But is it true?
Clay Shirky argues convincingly that it's a myth - and what's more one that conceals a much more interesting truth. The real story is of very rapid growth in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-787735412002-07-10T12:51:00.000Z2002-07-10T19:42:41.000ZExpert spots forgotten Michelangelo
Good report on how a visiting museum director from Scotland made the find while on holiday in New York.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-785929702002-07-05T19:08:00.000Z2002-07-29T02:26:30.000ZArab world is stagnating
Over half the young Arabs polled for a UN report want to emigrate.
Five percent of the world's population - 280 million people, live in countries with Arab-speaking majorities. The Arab Human Development Report looks into their prospects.
Though life expectancy has gone up in recent years and the numbers attending school increased substantially, the overall picture Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-777031232002-06-13T16:59:00.000Z2002-06-13T17:03:52.000ZHistory of the business giants
Good review of Alfred Chandler's book 'Inventing the Electronic Century: the epic story of the consumer electronics and computer industries'. It's on the Strategy & Business site run by Booz Allen Hamilton, which is free but requires registration.
Chandler is an 83-year old Professor at Harvard Business School, who has spent his entire career writing about the Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-768406262002-05-22T14:21:00.000Z2002-07-26T22:56:24.000ZAt last, a decent UK government web site
It's the Office of National Statistics. Sounds dull, but it's fast and well-organised. It makes an awful lot of information available in an accessible way.
DiscussIanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-102791452002-03-01T22:15:00.000Z2002-07-25T21:28:24.000ZVast new Turner collection goes online
Thousands more images by the artist J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) are now available online thanks to a BT-sponsored initiative by the Tate Gallery in London. This should please Turner-lovers such as myself - I currently use Northam Castle as background wallpaper on my PC. There's now a new version on the Tate site.
Turner is an unusual artist because he Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-101443592002-02-26T14:50:00.000Z2002-07-30T05:01:00.000ZDoomsday for minister from hell
The events of September 11th continue to resound around the world, interacting with local political systems and producing effects that are often incomprehensible to outsiders. One example is the rapidly disappearing political career of the UK's transport minister Stephen Byers.
Byers' enemies have numerous reasons for attacking him, not least his inability to Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-99594472002-02-21T12:52:00.000Z2002-07-26T22:43:12.000ZEarth at night
This is one of a great collection of pictures from NASA, with the lights at night clearly showing where humanity is clustered most densely.
For other good pictures try putting 'earth' into the Astronomy Picture of the Day search engine. If slow try the UK mirror.
For less beautiful but more accurate pictures of the lights of Earth at night try the Light Pollution Science and Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-92832602002-02-01T22:12:00.000Z2002-07-26T22:44:38.000ZHow's your grammar?
Will it pass the test? It's hard to resist a quiz - particularly if it's pitched at the right level. It needs to be challenging, but easy enough so that you still pass with flying colours.
The test above is posed on the BBC Five Live radio show's site. It's aimed at native UK English speakers, and focuses on things that still often cause them confusion.
Although I got 10 Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-90357042002-01-25T14:05:00.000Z2002-07-26T22:51:33.000ZIs the amount of journalism online actually falling?
I'm not talking about weblogs and other forms of vanity publishing, but professional journalism of the sort found in printed newspapers and magazines.
Cutbacks and closures at Internet pure plays have presumably reduced their journalistic output. That leaves the traditional print publishers as the main potential source of professional Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-89115312002-01-21T22:41:00.000Z2002-01-25T14:42:12.000ZHow to lose friends and influence people against you
The Bush administration is doing an amazing job of squandering support even from its closest allies. Here's the front page of today's Daily Mirror - a UK tabloid with a circulation of over two million that normally supports the government.
The accompanying editorial says "Bush is close to achieving the impossible - losing the sympathy of Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-88334782002-01-19T03:14:00.000Z2002-01-19T04:12:31.000ZIsraeli journalist calls for castration of Arabs
Meanwhile the spirit of ethnic cleansing is apparently alive and well among Russian immigrants to Israel. The broadly liberal daily newspaper Ha'aretz reports with some horror on an article published in Novosti, a Russian-language paper distributed in the country.
The article, called "How To Force Them To Leave", by Marian Belenki, says that Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-88299462002-01-19T00:38:00.000Z2002-01-19T04:13:33.000ZSaudis want American troops out, allegedly
Saudi Arabia's rulers are uncomfortable with the US military presence in their country and may ask the Americans to leave, according to a report in the Washington Post (there's an updated version at International Herald Tribune.)
If true this would have the unlikely effect of simultaneously pleasing both the Israelis and Bin Laden's followers.
But Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-88126732002-01-18T13:24:00.000Z2002-01-18T13:42:30.000ZSearch engines reduce need for domains
Why aren't people registering as many Internet domain names as they used to? Dan Gillmor argues that it's not just down to the tech slump. It's also because search engines have become so good that users prefer to find sites that way.
I think there's a lot to this argument. When I'm looking for a site - even a company site, I generally go straight to Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-85979142002-01-11T14:08:00.000Z2002-01-15T22:43:01.000ZLegal problems ahead for the Internet
Various prominent American lawyers give their views to the New York Times on how the law is going to affect Internet and IT developments this year. (NYT site is free but requires registration.) Most of them see plenty of legal disputes and dubious legislation ahead.
And here's an extract from Lawrence Lessig's book The Future of Ideas. Lessig, a law Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-80458682001-12-19T16:01:00.001Z2002-01-15T15:59:48.000ZWinzip turns detective
Winzip - a popular piece of shareware software used for compressing and decompressing files, turns out to have an amazing extra ability. It can be used to analyse patterns to determine such things as a document's subject matter, the language it is written in or even its true author.
The technique was devised by Vittorio Loreto and two colleagues at Sapienza University Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-80458742001-12-19T16:01:00.000Z2002-01-15T15:41:41.000ZAre Open Source programmers motivated by altruism - or self-interest?
An interesting alternative explanation of why people are willing to give their time free to Open Source software projects is advanced by David Lancashire on First Monday.
The usual explanations (most famously advanced by Eric Raymond) fall back on altruism or make analogies with the gift-giving behaviour often reported in Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-79303312001-12-14T17:57:00.000Z2001-12-14T17:57:47.570ZReligious-hatred law dropped to allow other anti-terror laws to go through
The struggle over the proposal to make 'incitement to religious hatred' a criminal offense in the UK has ended with the government giving way to its critics. Yesterday (Thursday) the House of Lords yet again rejected the religious clauses by a large majority. Rather than risk holding up the whole Anti-terrorism, Crime Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-78829952001-12-13T02:11:00.000Z2001-12-13T02:11:17.380ZStruggle continues on UK religious hatred law
Late yesterday (Wednesday) the Commons reversed the Lords amendments to the government-sponsored Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Bill. This sends the controversial package of new laws back to the Lords, the UK's upper chamber, where opposition is strong to those parts of the bill that touch on religion.
(see below under Monday December 10th).
Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-78792352001-12-12T23:36:00.000Z2001-12-13T02:43:45.000ZCalls for UK to copy US Megan's Law following child murder case
The conviction of a known sex offender for the kidnap and murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne is sure to revive calls for the wider publication of details of child sex offenders in the UK.
Roy Whiting had previously been convicted of the kidnap and indecent assault of a nine-year-old girl in 1995, but was released from prison Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-78177162001-12-10T23:57:00.000Z2001-12-11T01:05:05.000ZReligious hatred law rejected again
The UK government's attempts to pass a new law that seeks to 'outlaw' religious hatred is running into heavy opposition in parliament. Earlier today the house of Lords, the UK's upper chamber, rejected the proposal by an unexpectedly wide margin. This doesn't kill the measure stone dead, but makes some kind of deal more likely.
See below under Monday, Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-77244422001-12-07T12:08:00.000Z2001-12-07T12:40:05.000ZAmazon launches easy-access version of site
Amazon has launched an easy-access version of its site for partially-sited and blind users.
What's significant is that it hasn't gone down the usual giant-type-in-lurid-colours route - used on, for example, the BBC's new site.
Instead Amazon has radically simplified the navigation structure.
This helps because many blind and partially-sited users Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-77235462001-12-07T11:03:00.000Z2001-12-07T12:22:26.000ZUK web revenues will soar - thanks to gambling
The UK could take more than a third of all European online consumer entertainment revenue by 2005 - but mainly because of its lax laws on Internet gambling.
According to Schema Consulting, 10 percent of gambling will be online by 2005, compared to just one per cent now. One reason for the very rapid growth is that women are more likly to gamble Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-74204762001-11-26T21:39:00.000Z2001-12-10T23:45:45.000ZNew UK law 'outlawing religious hatred' may backfire
The BBC and Telegraph report that the government has overcome Conservative and Liberal Democrat opposition to pass the anti-incitement measures by 328 votes to 209. But further opposition is likely in the Lords, the UK's upper chamber. The real test though will come later in the courts, if government get this measure through.
The Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-70719032001-11-13T00:00:00.000Z2001-11-30T22:46:54.000ZWill travel fears drive a boom in web conferencing?
To some extent. But don't expect a monster conferencing boom.
Given recent events, it's not surprising that fear of flying is more intense than ever. While airlines, hotel industry and tour companies suffer, some technology vendors are benefiting.
Frost & Sullivan (http://conferencing.frost.com) has just released a report saying that it Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-68208322001-11-02T21:52:00.000Z2001-11-02T22:51:05.000ZUK to relax policing of cannabis
Cannabis is to be reclassified as a softer drug under new British government proposals. The changes, which are almost certain to go through, should lead to far fewer arrests of ordinary users. The main motive - apart from the fact the present policy has done nothing to reduce drug consumption, seems to be to free up police time.
'In 1999, nearly 70 per cent of Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-68051772001-11-02T05:55:00.000Z2001-11-02T22:12:21.000ZBetter flight security: leave the luggage off the plane
Forget armoured cockpit doors - what about passengers' luggage?
'Now that suicide is part of the standard terror system', writes noted science fiction author David Brin, 'it is no longer enough to make sure that every passenger who checked luggage gets on the plane. I consider this to be the next big problem. We should be letting people Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-67719032001-11-01T00:59:00.000Z2001-11-01T04:13:28.000ZRenting images and button bars for web sites
I've not posted for a few days as I've been spending time on developing my new web site. In the process I've been looking for tools to do the job more effectively.
I'm currently looking at style sheet editors and discussion forum software, and will update you in due course if I come across anything outstanding.
Meanwhile though here's one idea - Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-66296852001-10-26T07:48:00.000Z2001-11-01T03:39:30.000ZTerrorism's ultra-zealots
If you think Bin Laden is extreme - some Muslims want to kill him because he's too soft. And they've already had a go, according to this Sunday Times story.Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-65708052001-10-24T03:17:00.000Z2001-11-01T03:40:06.000ZPaper junk mail losing out to email spam in the anthrax era
Direct marketers are already moving over from paper to email in the US according to an Associated Press story on Wired News. People are reluctant to open physical mail in the present frightened climate.
This is as you'd expect, but the story suggests the changeover may not be ultra rapid. Paper still has advantages - colour, impact, Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-65656662001-10-23T23:47:00.000Z2001-10-23T23:55:30.000ZNew privacy laws come into effect in UK
The full force of the Data Protection Act, passed three years ago, comes into effect today. This is remarkably bad timing because it's all about enhancing people's privacy - which in the current circumstances could be regarded as 'making the UK a safe haven for terrorists'.
Indeed, the French claim that's already the case).
I dealt with these Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-65619632001-10-23T21:13:00.000Z2001-10-24T01:58:07.000ZAfter the Internet goldrush ...
... another goldrush!
More than half a million dot info (e.g. www.foobar.info) domain names have been registered in the new domain’s first 90 days of operation, according to Afilias, the official dot info registry.
Registration started on a restricted basis at the end of July - at that time people could only register a dot info name if they held related a Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3155614.post-64361472001-10-18T16:40:00.000Z2001-10-19T01:04:20.000ZBreaking our addiction to oil
Anatole Kaletsky has a good piece in today's Times arguing that it's perfectly possible for the West to break its dependency on Middle East oil.
The problem with this oil is that it carries an enormous hidden cost - the world economy is put at risk whenever there's an outbreak of 'Middle East madness'. While Kaletsky doesn't have a solution to the region's Ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16916584887952255715noreply@blogger.com