JAN 04
oilstains
ExxonMobil, the word’s biggest oil company, has just unveiled its profits for last year. A cool $21,000 Million ( after tax ) Hmmmm, you could do a lot with that kind of money. Perhaps, now they are lolling about in a pool of cash, they’ll engage in all sorts of philanthropic activities – you know, put back a bit into the community ?
Things weren’t going so well for them a while back (comparatively ), but luckily, all kinds of problems have helped to push the oil price up – and that means barrels more profit. ‘Problems’ like, oh, for example, a war in Iraq, er, strikes in Venezuela, civil unrest in Nigeria – every little helps . . . Its not Exxon’s fault ; it’s just that sometimes, when things are going horribly wrong in the world, they make more dosh.
Anyway, now they’ve got their hands on the loot, at least they’ll be able to pay for the Exxon Valdez clean-up. ( the worst oil-spill disaster in history ). In 1991, they reached a $900M settlement with the federal Government and Alaska – thing is though – they never paid up. They’ve been querying the payment ever since, and now the courts are getting somewhat peeved about it.
This week, the latest legal decision landed Exxon a swingeing $4.5B ‘punitive damages’ bill. ( oh, and there’s $2.25B in back-interest on top ) . So now, at last, the case is settled. The Alaskans can be compensated, and the environment can be lavishly rejuvenated.
Er , well, not quite yet obviously, Exxon have said they’re appealing . . .
P.S. Oddly, for such a simple exercise, the profits are being quoted wildly
differently depending where you look . . The BBC says $17B , The New York
Times says $21B, and Deutsche Welle says $25B . . . So I’ve chosen
an average.
A GM project that almost makes sense.
According to the Red Cross, 26,000 people are injured or killed by ‘left-over’ landmines every year.
Now, a Danish biotech firm called Aresa Biodetection, have patented their idea for a GM plant which can detect landmines in the soils where it grows. The plant, a common type of cress, has been engineered to change colour ( it goes red ) when it’s roots start taking up chemicals which leach from buried mines. The plants have been built to be sensitive to nitrogen-dioxide (NO2), which gradually evaporates from the buried mines. So, to find the mines, you’d simply sprinkle a few packets of seeds over a suspect area, wait a few weeks, and the plants will show you where they are.
Every year, around 100,000 mines are removed worldwide, but, despite the 1997 Mine Ban treaty, *25 times* this number are being planted ! So it’s not difficult to see where the problem lies.
The problem obviously needs to be tackled at source, and there are a number of very simple methods which could render the mines harmless after a few months. ( the so-called ‘dumb’ mines normally remain active for 50 years or so ) These simple modifications wouldn’t cost more than a few cents per device, and are technologically feasible right now. They could be implemented straight away if the manufactures and their governmental endorsers / overseers gave a **** , which plainly, they don’t. Here’s a couple of idea guys . . .
1) Pack into each mine a small bag of dormant explosive-degrading bacteria. ( there are plenty which will eat common explosives ) The bag would be made of thin degradable plastic which breaks and releases the bugs after a few months. Cost $0.05
2) Make the detonating pin ( or some other crucial trigger component ) out of hard but biodegradable plastic which crumbles after a few months in the ground. Cost $0.10
3) Incorporate a simple electronic, or even mechanical timer which permanently deactivates the mine after a suitable time period. ( so-called ‘smart’ mines have a timer which detonates them after a few hours – doesn’t seem all that smart to me – much better to deactivate them surely ? ) Cost $0.50
There are endless other ways of doing it.
Message to the military: Anti personnel mines are supposed to be a cheap *temporary* way of dissuading your ‘enemy’ from crossing a territory on foot. If you need a long-term method you’re going to have to keep your forces permanently in the area anyway – then you won’t need the dumb mines, in fact you’ll wish you’d never planted them.
Message to the manufactures : If you built self-degrading mines, not only would you be able to gain some PR ground ( ok, maybe not much, considering what you do for a living ) but also *you’d be able to sell the bonehead governmental / military complex the same deal, all over again, every few months* !
Readers might be forgiven for thinking, like I did, that the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty banned landmines.
It doesn’t.
It just bans anti-personnel mines, all other types are *specifically excluded* from the agreement ! So if you happen to step on one designed to incapacitate a Jeep – don’t go running to the UN about it.
Furthermore, the agreement *still* hasn’t been signed and ratified by some ‘Rogue States’ . . .
Oh, and the US of course . . .
Oddly enough, it’s next to impossible to get up-to-date concrete information about the companies which are, right now, still manufacturing components for the mines . . . try a www search and see how far you get . . . The companies concerned, some of which are household names, seem to be awfully shy about it for some reason. Shy about admitting they make them that is - but not shy about selling them apparently. ( more on this another day . . . )
link to Aresa:
http://www.aresa.dk/
the 1997 treaty:
http://www.smallarmsnet.org/docs/lmun07.pdf
p.s. I don’t want to nit-pick what seems, on the surface, a good idea,
but NO2 is a very common chemical. It occurs naturally in soil, and is also
a component of vehicle exhaust fumes and industrial pollution. Wouldn’t
it have been better to have engineered the plants to be sensitive to a more
exotic chemical, more specific to explosives ?
candydates
Please read the following para taking special care to raise the pitch of your ( inner ) voice at the end of each sentence, especially if there is a question mark at the end. For full authenticity, the pitch rise should be about seven semitones.
“Because. You know, I’m like having rill trouble making up my mind who to vote for ? It’s like, way complicated ? So many choices ? So many like, issues ? I could , like, rilly use some help on this one ? “
Don’t worry, help is at hand. If you can’t make up your mind who to vote for at the upcoming presidential election, there are several websites out there that can guide you – via multiple choice Q & A. Now anyone can make a decision about who to vote for . . .
Here’s a few websites to try :
http://selectsmart.com/president/
http://www.presidentmatch.com/
The sites have all been around for a while, but now the hit counts are beginning to go ballistic in the run up to the election.
There must be an awful lot of people out there in need of a little humour in their daily routine . . . But I’ve got a dark, sinking feeling that some people probably take the idea seriously . . .
How about the people who run the sites? By way of example, let’s look
at Curt and Lorrie Anderson, who run the Selectsmart site.
Without the aid of telepathy, it’s pretty hard to determine whether they
have their tongues firmly in their cheeks or not. Perhaps a clue is to be found
at their sister site, which allows you to fill in a similar Q & A form
- to find out what religion you should follow. As Lorrie said in a
recent interview :
"Words mean a whole lot when you start trying to describe who or what God is or isn't “. Er, right Lorrie.
How about Ontheissues ? Well, there’s no mistake about this one, because it’s run by Jesse Gordon, who is, apparently, a long time Democrat campaigner, and also runs a couple of other sites for Democrat candidates. One can’t help wondering whether the Q’s & A’s result always tells you to vote Democrat, whatever you fill in. ( sorry, but I can’t be bothered to test it )
The third site is run by AOL TimeWarner. Well, they gave nearly $2M to the Democrats in 2002, but, in the time honoured tradition of bet hedging, they also gave nearly half a million to the Republicans as well. Let’s say they lean to the left.
To sum up, here’s what Stanford’s Professor of Communications ,Jon Krosnick, thinks about the concept in general . . . ( You might want to switch to your ‘Homer Simpson impression’ voice here )
“What's great about these sites is they've made the effort to characterize where the candidate stands, and they've made the matching process easy, - I think it's a terrific idea."
Gee Prof. , terrific for who exactly ? Someone with the intellectual acuity of a mollusc ?
Still, now at least Dubbya‘ll no witch way ter voat.
see also
http://www.selectsmart.com/religion/
buy gas
Take my advice, start hoarding ‘negative’ CO2 now. The price is going up. The cost of – ‘negative’ CO2 – ‘lack of’ CO2 – ‘not’ CO2 is now €13 per tonne , and rising. That’s how much it costs for an industry in the EU to emit one tonne - after they’ve reached their maximum emissions threshold. Nowadays, they can buy unused ‘quotas’ on the open market - from other industries who haven’t reached their targets, and who have some pollution potential to spare ; and flog.
So, when a company is given its quotas by central government, three or four years in advance – it had better be accurate. If the quota is on the low side, it’s going to cost the firm bigtime to keep up with it. If, however, it’s on the high side, the business will be delighted. It’s exactly the same as receiving a juicy government grant with no ties.
Since the allowances run into millions of tonnes per year, even a 1% error in the estimate can mean hundreds of thousands € loss – or profit.
Of course, it couldn’t possibly happen in the UK, but one can’t help imagining a scenario in a less than scrupulous country whereby the ears of the mandarins who come up with the figures could be well and truly bent by some parties with vested interests.
Oh, by the way, DEFRA is currently deciding on the handouts to big business for 2005 – 2007. I’m sure all is totally fair and above board, but unfortunately, that’s hard to verify, because although they are, of course, ‘committed to transparency’ – according to Reuters, they ‘can’t comment on individual cases’ . Doh!
We can however, rest assured, because DEFRA has a ‘Vision’. And, it’s there for all to see on their website, this is it :
“Our vision is the difference we would like to contribute to the world in which we live by building a successful Defra”
Er . . . eh? , I’ll have to read that again . . .
Right, that’s cleared the air then hasn’t it ?
see:
http://www.planetark.com/
and also:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/aims/vision.htm
glowing report
A friend of mine, who is a Phd. (ex) genetic engineer, once told me that “ I can teach anyone the basics required to genetically engineer an organism in half an hour “ . It’s not difficult to swap genes. The difficult bit is getting the resulting cell to survive, and grow into a viable adult.
Much more difficult still is devising a halfway sensible GM project in the first place.
Let’s get one thing straight. Despite what you might read or hear from the tech-blind everyday media, GM is different. Very different.
In defending the new technology, the proponents, who are always either:
-linked in some way to the GM industry revenue stream or
-a few chromosomes short of a full set.
Usually come up with a variation of the following sentence . . .
“GM is just like selective breeding, which farmers have been doing
for centuries – only these new techniques are just a bit faster – that’s
all. Do you see ? “
*If* the goal of the experiment is to enhance the efficiency of genes which are *already present* in the animal / plant concerned – then yes, the statement would be true - but that’s very rarely the case. The GM industry would not be interested in such a project. For instance, it wouldn’t be much of an intellectual challenge to GM mod a hippo to have thicker skin, or a Dachshund to have even more ridiculously short legs. The big difference comes when a *new* gene, one which was never present in the genome before, is inserted. And of course, 99% of all GM research focuses in this area.
That’s where the ‘fun’ is. That’s where the money is.
Generations of farmers could cross-breed rabbits for the rest of all eternity,
and they’d never get one to glow in the dark.
The truth is that it’s really not that difficult to insert the gene from a bio-luminescent jellyfish into a mammal. You might have to try a few times, or more likely a few thousand times, because the standard GM techniques have all the sophistication of a blunderbuss. But eventually, you’ll get it to work. Luminescent aquarium fish are already on the market, fluorescent mice are available for lab work, and there’s no reason why the exotic gene they’ve been given couldn’t be added to any other plant / animal. Which raises the obvious question – how long before luminous humans ?
It’s pretty unlikely ( though prob not out of the question ) that any medical team would be willing to organise such a stunt - but how about an individual? There are already several ‘artists’ about who gain attention by self-modification ( e.g plastic surgery ) Perhaps, with the growing sophistication of ‘gene therapy’ techniques , it will shortly be possible to insert the luminescent gene into an adult ? You read it here first.
In the meantime, here’s some ideas :
http://64.81.51.213/fpm/6/contest765196.html
One doesn’t want to keep harping on about illegal music downloads etc.
Or does one ? I can’t remember the last time there was such a public legal battle between big business and the punters. It’s not going to go away, and the only certainty about its outcome is that dozens of fiendishly expensive legal outfits will get substantially richer.
Now, a thoroughly respected music industry exec with 30 years experience has put (another) cat amongst the pigeons – by saying that illegal downloading might actually *help* the industry . . . Oooh! Radical !
Andy Taylor, chairman of the Sanctuary Group ( Megadeth, Queensryche, Coc, and, er . . . Petula Clark ) has gone on record to say that “Sharing music is not necessarily a bad thing . . . ” That’s going to go down well at Midem, which kicks-off today. ( Midem is the yearly five-day music industry booze-up & bitching session - oh, all right, ‘global business opportunities forum’ )
His point is though, that illegal file sharing can expose millions of new customers to the company’s material – people who would never have bought the music anyway – and allowing them to hear it for free can only do one thing – increase their possible interest in the product.
It’s called advertising.
Prior to all this download shenanigan, the big labels were already ‘suffering’ from piracy in the form of cloned CD’s. Ten years before the invention of writable CD discs, pirate CD’s were always available. At the time, there was only one way to make a CD, and that was at a CD pressing plant – there were only handfuls of these ultra-high-tech industrial facilities on the entire planet. And yet, somehow, perfectly pressed pirate CD’s were on the street by the ens of thousands – how could that possibly happen we muse ?
Rumour has it that certain very large label conglomerates were in the habit of arranging to have the CD’s covertly pressed, and then shipped out the side door at knockdown prices – in the general direction of some dodgy geezers who might be up for a bit of illicit distribution. That way, the company could increase their listener base – and make some pocket money in the process.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose . . . See:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
capital idea ?
It’s a shame to hear that Kodak is in trouble. Not that it’s a great surprise, for firm which relies on sales of ( chemical ) film in the digital era. Their C.E.O, the nominatively unfortunate Mr. Carp, has, as you might guess, been complaining - to the media. He says that the rate of growth of the competing new digital tech has been ‘breathtaking’ – and now they have to react.
Their reaction is to announce that 15,000 jobs will be axed over the next three years. It’s pretty obvious that the company is in serious trouble – and shareholders are worried. Er, well no, they’re not actually. In fact they’re delighted. At the time of writing, the share price has just shot up, so anyone with Kodak shares has just made a 12% profit on them overnight.
So, let’s get this straight. The company announces that it’s been left behind y the breathtaking success of new technology - which evidently they’re not overly good at, as yet. Things are so bad that nearly one quarter of the worldwide workforce will have to be sacked, while the company plays catch-up. And that’s good news apparently.
There couldn’t really be a more straightforward demonstration of the fact that the big-business system *loves* unemployment. The more people who are sacked, the happier shareholders get.
So, if you’re a worker, do the ‘stakeholders’ a favour, and resign now. If you’re a shareholder, campaign for sackings, layoffs and redundancies. And, if you’re one of the growing millions of workers who owns shares, don’t even bother getting out of bed.
we heap strong
Thank goodness, the Ahhhnelld the Gubernator media-frenzy seems to have died down. One of the phrases he used in a TV interview after his election set me thinking though. He said ‘ Something I luurned ven I wasss a bawdy–builder : you are alwayzz much strönger zan you think you are . . ‘
I tend to agree with Arnie on that one – as do psychologists, sports–trainers, doctors, soldiers and stage hypnotists amongst others. People under physical or mental stress often show almost unbelievable levels of strength.
What occurred to me was, that all of us – every person who is alive today – are the descendents of extraordinarily tough ancestors. Without exception, every single one of them survived at least long enough to produce children – probably several children. The vast majority had no access whatever to clean water. No sewage system. They had very limited medical resources. They had no power sources apart from fire, sun and wind. They were constantly at battle with insects, carnivorous animals, bacteria, viruses and probably each other too. ( They did, however, dine exclusively on organic food . . . )
In short, they must have been as tough as nails. The ones who weren’t simply uldn’t have lasted long enough to have had children. In other words, we are the product of selective breeding for supreme ruggedness over the millennia – we, yes we, are the toughest of the tough. You or I might not look, or feel, that way on a day to day basis, but it’s an inescapable genetic fact. ( Cue ‘Tarzan’ sound-effect )
How to make money ( and annoy your customers, so you end up losing )
Customers like it when they’re sold something that’s built to last - they don’t like it when they’re sold something that’s ( deliberately ) built to fall apart. owever, the car industry discovered long ago that, from their point of view, it was not a good idea to build cars which lasted too long. Hence the coining of the phrase ‘Built In Obsolescence’ .
But in the case of a car, you can probably expect it to last ten years or so, by which time you’ll probably want another one anyway. Howabout if it lasted one year ? Or one month ? How would you feel about a product that was designed to last only two days ?
Believe it or not, some manufacturers have deliberately designed products to fail after two days – and they expect the punters to be pleased . . .
A company by the name of Flexplay, in association with this site’s old chums eneral Electric, have patented the technology for self-destruct DVD’s. The plastic they’re made from incorporates a special chemical which darkens on exposure to air. So, once the DVD is removed form its airtight pack – it starts to dye(sic).
Why ? Well according to the company’s website, the idea is applicable to DVD movie rental. Allowing you to *not* have to return the DVD to the rental shop. So, you’ll never have to pay a ‘late fee’ again. ( or suffer from scratched discs. ) Gee, Thanks . . .
The video rental shops are presumably keen on the idea too, because they don’t have to check and re-catalogue returns. It also entices vendors to *sell* he DVD’s at much lower prices than normal , around $5 or so.
So, good idea or not ? Here’s a translation of the underlying PR message which will be received, loud and clear, by the consumers . . .
“ We are making a product which will store those movies you love in a compact, convenient and cheap form. We know - that you know - that the discs themselves are very cheap – a few tens of cents. In fact the box and the printed label costs more than the disc. But, we also know, that if we rent you, or sell you, a cheap DVD you might watch the movie more than once – you might lend it to your friends, you might even – heaven forbid – make a copy of it ! So we’re going to make it self-destruct after two days. ope you don’t mind. ”
Presumably, the same technology can be applied to music CD’s , so don’t be surprised if some ultra low price self-destruct CD’s start appearing in your local record shop soon.
( Coincidentally, the company’s marketing director came from Universal Music, the worlds biggest record label – which is, conveniently controlled by none other than General Electric . . . so it’s all very cosy. )
Readers with a high patience level can check ( hope their products are better
designed than the site is. . . )
p.s. The new patent is an update on earlier ideas which used a weaker dye, and might have allowed a cottage industry to develop ‘rejuvenating’ dead DVD’s – can’t have that can we ?
Just say no.
Being honest is not a good strategy if you want to make money. By being ‘economical with the truth’, you can often increase your chances of a profit quite substantially. But every now and again, the ‘Ratner’ effect surfaces, and a leading exec decides to come clean about their products ( or sometimes, they just forget who’s listening )
Back in August last year, Allen Roses, world vice-pres of genetics for GlaxoSmithKline decided to announce to the world that
“the vast majority of drugs – more than 90% - only work in 30% to 50% of people . . “
In other words, more than half of the medicines consumed worldwide are a waste of money. The full picture is a little bleaker though, because many medicines cause unpleasant or even dangerous side effects – and the patients who are taking the ineffective drugs will suffer from these too. They’ll not only be wasting their money, but also causing themselves damage.
There’s worse to come. Now, a study by Bristol university, focussing on cough medicines, has found that the legally required ‘effectiveness trials’, ( clinical tests for medicines before they are a released ) are often quasi-scams. They looked at 300 different cough remedies available in the EU. Then they went back over the pre-release research data which had been published for all the medicines, and found that *only 5% had actually been tested on people with coughs*. The other 95% were tested in the lab – but not on coughing humans . . . Duh!
But we haven’t reached the bottom of the barrel as far as bigtime pharmaceutical deception goes . . . In another soon to be released in-depth study by Professor Peter Schönhofer, joint publisher of the German Pharmaceutical Association’s journal, it was found that, not only did producers fail to test medicines properly before their release – but a significant proportion *deliberately falsified the results in their favour*. Out of the studies examined by the professor, over 20% were , to use his word “fraudulent”
There are, of course, many examples of pharmaceutical glittering successes. For example the triple antibiotic cocktails which saw the almost complete eradication of TB in the UK – in just a couple of years. But as far as the every-day medicines which are despatched over the counter at pharmacies and by overworked GP’s, it seems that the majority are just highly profitable duds – which, at their best, might not make you any more unwell than you already are.
comment: It gets worse. See
http://archive.newscientist.com/ ( sorry, subscribers only )
and worse still . . .
can't wait
There’s an often-made comparison between using a computer and driving. You’re in control , and you decide where to ‘go’. It’s your personal space, and beware anyone who tries to interfere while you’re ‘driving’. Small wonder then ( zero wonder in fact ) that people don’t like having the control ripped out of their hands.
I’m talking pop-ups.
The ad agencies know full-well that everyone hates them. But that doesn’t stop them being used, because the clients – the ones who pay the ad agencies invoices – are, in general, tech-dumb enough to let the agencies convince them it’s a good idea.
As if proof were needed, and it’s not – because everyone who has used the web for more than a couple of hours gets to hate pop-up ads - it’s now estimated that around a third of users have pop-up blocking software installed, and the number of people using the software is currently doubling every year.
But unfortunately, or fortunately, ‘ We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet’ . Because, as from today, you might get enjoy the delights of ‘pop up video’ as well. Several companies are trialing the scheme, which features 30 second full frame-rate video ads for Honda, Pepsi , and Warner Bros. The ads load in the background as you are browsing a web address, and then ‘pop-up’ as you click to leave the site.
Hmmmm, great idea guys.
The agencies are betting that people will ‘love’ the ads, especially the ‘funny’ ones, like the Pepsi effort which features a scenario whereby ‘a vacuum cleaner chases consumer and eats pants’ . . . K3WL.
Apart from the obvious annoyance factor, I would have thought there is a possible legal implication in that, in a sense, users’ bandwidth is being ‘stolen’ without their knowledge. Anyone with a connection contract which charges by the megabyte, as opposed to unlimited access ( corporate LAN’s etc ) – might not be overjoyed at the prospect of being annoyed and charged for it too . . .
Note: The ads are in an ultra compressed video format, but nevertheless are 900 frames long. I’ll try to measure the filesize and post an update.
Update: never managed to find them . . . but apparently the ad aganecies were delighted because the ads didn't annoy users nearly as much as they were expecting . . . result guys.
Bug denial.
I think I’ve discovered a new syndrome. One which would go an awful long way towards explaining why really dumb bugs remain in software for so long.
( need an example bug ? try this one if you’re a windows user : create a bunch of sequentially numbered files, eg. test01, test02, test03 etc. Half a dozen or so is fine. Then select the files and drag and drop them into the same folder. The system will duly copy the files, renamed as ‘copy of test01’ etc . But the copied files will now be jumbled up, in other words, the order trashed. OK it’s no big deal, but how come a dumb as **** bug like that is still there after decades of work by the M$ programmers ? )
That’s where my new discovery comes in.
I’ve found that programme users really don’t like having bugs pointed out to them. Not the programmers , – the *users*. I have absolutely no idea why that should be. Maybe it’s some kind of tribal / competition syndrome whereby they identify themselves as belonging to some kind of club. e.g. the Photoshop Club. – perhaps they don’t like it when someone says the equivalent of ‘ your captain’s got skinnier knees than our captain – yo sucks ‘
Not convinced ? Try this simple proof. Sign up with a web forum which is based around a programme you know a bit about. Then, over a period of a few days, post messages about bugs you’ve come across to the forum. Then keep an eye on the number of people who access and read the messages. If my experience is anything to go by, you’ll find that the bug-report messages are just about the least read of any in the forum. Surely they should be the *most* read ?
By the way. I love Flash. Absolutely nothing wrong with it whatsoever. A perfect programme if ever there was one. Works like a dream. Fabulous. Love it.
loot at large
Shock Horror. Yet another ‘ would you mind giving me your money please ‘ virus. This one, called ‘Mmdload-A’ comes via e-mail and pretends to be from Paypal. If you run the bogus attachment , called ‘paypal.exe’ and then fill in all your bank details and credit card numbers – you’re in trouble.
Well yeah, you would be. It’s the exact equivalent of the following non-tech scenario. A letter arrives at your residence. The letter encloses a form – pretending to be from a respected financial institution. The form asks for all your bank details - but, most importantly, asks you to send back the completed form *with a pre-signed blank cheque* What sane person would do such a thing ? Well, quite a few do apparently. The famous Nigerian 419 scams are still going strong – they would have died out by now if no one ever fell for them.
But, in the real world, all this vital financial data is already ‘out there’ anyway. Every time you use your credit card by phone or online, you are giving the recipient all the numbers they need to rip off your account. Cheques are a bit more secure – but you’re still giving out your account number , branch, and a copy of your signature. To me, the astonishing thing is that the system works at all. You might imagine that , as soon as you use your card / cheque for the first time – all hell would break loose. But it doesn’t. The overwhelming majority of people don’t abuse the system. There’s hope yet.
no good, you too spensive
The Chinese have a new ‘rail’ link from central Shanghai to its airport. A very high-tech one. It’s a Maglev. The system, called ‘Transrapid™’ was built by the German consortium ThyssenKrupp and Siemens, and lifts the train by magnetically - it glides along at more than 200 m.p.h - with no wheels. It’s only been running two weeks or so, but now the Chinese authorities have apparently decided they’ve had enough thank you. At the time of writing, they haven’t officially confirmed the decision, but news agencies are reporting that a new, much more ambitious Transrapid™ project , a 570 mile network , which has been in planning stages for six years or so, is now grounded. The new tracks will be conventional rails instead.
There are a couple of possible reasons which spring to mind. Firstly, the Maglev system costs about twice as much to build. The second is that, all the time the train is moving – it has to be lifted ! Imagine the amount of raw power you’d have to put into a system to lift an entire train – with an electromagnet – and *keep* it lifted ( each carriage weighs more than 50 tons ! ) . . . The company claim, however, that the power consumed is less than that of the aircon system. Hmmm, That’s one mighty cool train. Could it be that the railway company have just got their first electricity bill ?
Maglev tech has been around for a very long time – and it works. Unfortunately though, at the moment, it’s hard to see how it can make economic sense, except perhaps from a PR point of view. The ‘idea’ is great , very little friction, no bumpy rails, no noisy axles – but , all the time, energy has to be put into the system to hold a whole damn train floating in the air. Some time in the distant future, if electricity is ever cost-free, then maybe the idea would be make sense.
The Chinese are right – Wheels are good ( thinking about it – they probably invented them )
Liang Baohua, the governor of Jiangsu province, phrased it very succinctly when he simply asked the proponents . . .
“Why don’t you build the Transrapid™ in Germany ? ”
An imaginary conversation at Mega-Corp™
Suit from Upper Management:
“ Oh, Hi, Darren. Yeah , look , we’ve got to do something about
DRM, PDQ. The CEO’s going OTT”
Technical Director:
“ Er , Sorry Piers – what are you talking about ? “
SUM: “DRM – Digital Rights Management matey“
TD: “Digital Rights Management ? Oh, you mean copy protection? Ummm, yes Piers , but it’s not that easy you see . . .”
SUM: “Well we’ve got to make a start”
TD: “The problem is Piers, that whatever we do, someone will find a way round it “
SUM: “There must be a way. Look, the top office have just got last years sales figures ; there’s a hell of a lot of infringement going on. Cloning, hacking, downloading. I told you, the CEO’s going ape.”
TD: “There’s no way. We’ll just end up with egg on our faces. Some bedroom geek will find that they can bypass it with a felt-tip – just like happened to Sony”
SUM: ”I’ll level with you Darren, the business affairs office is on my back and giving me grief bigtime. It’s a no-brainer Darren. I’m sorry, but as of today, you’ll have to set aside at least ten of your best programmers to start working on it.”
TD: ” OK. But it’s a waste of time. Those programmers should be on product development – you know that.”
SUM: “ We have to make it work Darren “
TD: “ It won’t “
SUM: “ nnnngg . . . but it would be great if we *could* find a way wouldn’t it ? “
TD: “ er Yeah, *if* we could . . . “
( repeat last four lines ad nauseam )
don't lift the lid
If you ‘buy’ something, the ownership of the item transfers to you. Once you’ve paid for it, it’s yours – and you can do what you like with it . . . Can’t you ? Well , Sony* thinks otherwise. They aren’t at all happy that people who’ve bought their Playstations™ have been deciding to open the box and start tweaking. The idea being to modify the machine so that it can do things it was never intended to do – like play regionally-protected games for example. ( The regional protection means that if you buy a disc say in the US , it won’t play in your European machine.) Some people’s customised machines have even been seized, under the legal umbrella of the ‘European Union Copyright Directive’.
But now a judge, Edoardo Mori , at the court of Bolanzo in Italy, has dared to disagree with the Nipponese tech giant. In a recent court case he determined that the seized machines must be returned – and he has, in effect – changed the law, in Italy anyway, in favour of the consumer.
He uses the example of a car , and says that , if you buy a car , you should be allowed to drive it where you like – across continental borders if you want to. He also says that you should be able to convert / tweak / adapt your car in any way you want to. And that, similarly, if you want to lift the lid on your Playsation™ and install a €2 chip which will allow you to play games from anywhere – you should be able to.
Continuing the ‘car’ analogy – I may have a solution for Sony*.
At present, the US car-hire business is busily fitting their fleets of vehicles with discreetly concealed GPS chips. The idea is partly to enable recovery of the car if it’s stolen or abandoned, but also to enable the hire firm to issue extra charges or fines if the vehicle is driven across borders ( in the case that the hire agreements don’t allow the vehicles out of a particular state for example )
So here’s the deal Sony* – don’t sell the Playstations™ -
rent ‘em out !
( The company makes next to zero profit selling the boxes anyway – the
idea being to rake in revenue from royalties rather than box sales.) That way
the ownership will remain with the company , and the users ( or their parents
) won’t have to fork out a wedge of cash to buy the machine , just a
low monthly rental charge.
Case solved.
You can read the full story of the court case here:
http://ipjustice.org/media/release20040112_en.shtml
(*Any offers of a generous consultancy fee will be given due consideration.)
Because it’s possible.
Another batch of financial anomalies hits the fan. This time, the company in the spotlight, ‘Adecco’ ( the world’s largest recruitment agency ) , described their accounting glitch as “ material weaknesses in internal controls “. Their announcement caused the share price to drop - at one point 48% down - in one day. There’s no suggestion of any fraudulent activities – but investors are clearly nervous, to say the least.
This follows the recent problems of the huge ‘Parmalat’ dairy group , with ‘irregularities’ reckoned by the financial media to be the wrong side of €10Billion. Other companies receiving attention include the Dutch ‘Ahold’ group ( $800M under scrutiny ) , and, of course , ‘Enron’ - the largest bankruptcy scandal ever in US history.
So why the sudden outbreak of accounting rough-patches ? It may be that, post Enron, the auditors are looking a little more closely at bookkeeping practices of the more ‘imaginative’ type. But here’s another theory . . . Purely hypothetical of course . . .
In the ‘old days’, owning stocks and shares was very much the domain of the monied classes . In the UK, the famous ‘Old Boy’ network was seamlessly plugged into stocks and shares deals etc etc. But, over the last couple of decades or so, there has been a sea-change in the way share ownership works. As part of a very deliberate policy, backed by governments, the share ownership base has been widened very substantially.
‘Ordinary’ individuals have been very much encouraged to become ‘stakeholders’ - to such an extent that now, around half the population in the US have a least some of their savings in the form of company shares. That has given the opportunity to the Joe Bloke family to become an ‘empowered’ entity in the financial market. A more democratic spread of wealth some would say.
But it’s also, conveniently for the huge corporations, a more democratic spread of risk too . . . So now, the CEO of Mega-Corp, doesn’t have to worry about half a dozen or so ultra-wealthy, ( and very nosey ) individuals who had a heavy stake in the company. The kind of characters who could unleash a team of hungry legal rottweilers at the drop of a ( bowler ) hat if they caught a whiff of trouble. Now, the sharebase is divided up into tens of thousand of tiny investors who are totally divorced from the day-to-day financial intricacies of a huge corporation, and, most importantly, *they don’t know each other*. Being blunt about it, some would describe them as hopeful, but clueless, punters. From Mega-Corp’s point of view, opportunities therefore abound for all kinds of fiscal conjuring which Joe Bloke will never get a sniff of – until it’s too late.
The first thing he’ll know about it is when his life-savings change overnight from double cream to blue cheese.
Prediction: The current vogue for unwelcome exposures of financial shortcomings will soon spread, upwards , from large corporations – to even more scandalous problems with banks – and then on to entire governments / currencies . . . Personally, I’m buying Finnish Markkas.
K3WL !
A new alternative to the Segway transporter has gone on sale in the US. This one’s called ‘Rad2Go Q’ ( hey ! catchy name ! ) and it’s been selling at around only a quarter of the price of the Seg. One of the reasons it can be so much cheaper is that its electronics are very much less sophisticated than its rival. The Segway uses a solid state mini gyroscope originally developed for the arms industry ( see 2nd Dec 2003 ) – but the new ‘Q’ doesn’t have one. Its balance relies on the tried and tested method of utilising four wheels instead of two. From the pics, it looks at first sight as though the wheelbase is a little on the short side ( I’m guessing 40cm between the centres of the front and back wheels ? ). It does around 10 mph , so you definitely wouldn’t want to run head-on into a curb - unless you plan on some d.i.y. ad-hoc orthodontics.
They could make the vehicle a lot more stable by extending the wheelbase so that it couldn’t tip forwards quite so easily. A metre or so should do it. Ok, they need to get round the expensive balancing electronics – so why not use a free, biologically-based real-time self balancing system – known as the rider ? Then they could go back to the elegant two-wheeled solution - It’s called a scooter . . .
To be fair to Rad2go , they do sell electric scooters already – like the ‘Rad Pad’ and the ‘ Great White w/seat ‘ . The ‘Great White w/seat’ looks a bit more plausible – it’s half the price , goes twice as fast , and has the appeal of – well, put it like this – I don’t think we’ll be seeing James Bond using one in a chase sequence anytime soon ( mind you , if they got Roger Moore back . . . )
Does not compute ; error – erorr - erroorrorrrrr
Perhaps it was just me that thought that the record industry was in bad shape. But, apparently, everything’s fine. According to Nielsen Soundscan ( they’re the company who monitor music sales in the US for the prestigious Billboard weekly charts ) , the sales last year were down 0.8% compared to 2002. Doesn’t really sound all that bad does it ? Surely , 0.8% is the sort of figure that must be within the margin of accuracy of the measurements ? It’s more or less concrete evidence that there isn’t really a problem – isn’t it ?
Well, there does seem to be some conflicting info flying around. For instance, I recently heard details from the head of an ‘appnin’ UK independent record label - that sales had dropped by 30% in six months . . . Record shops are closing by the week. A few days back I saw a TV interview with the owner of a small chain of European record shops, who has seen his attempt at business-building shrink back to a ‘chain’ of 1 - in a year or so.
Hmmm. Could it be that the monitoring agencies are listing the *number* of tracks that are being *legally* downloaded from record company authorised sites – rather than comparing the revenue generated from them - to that of traditional sales ? It’s just a theory, but it would account for the extraordinarily conflicting statistics. The number of downloads is enormous, legal or illegal.
It seems to me that, statistics-wise, the music industry needs a check-up.
‘ So, doctor , gimme the Jive, er , everything’s, er . . , ok ? ain’t it ? ‘
‘ Yes, yes. Now, just swallow this, and I’ll come back and see you in a little while . . . ‘
The words ‘heads’ and ‘sand’ spring to mind.
look away , look away
I guess it’s pretty obvious – as computer graphics tech becomes ever more sophisticated , the opportunities for forgers to rip off currency notes get ever easier. There’s a curious development afoot which intends to curb the opportunities for forgers though. The driving force behind the changes is the low-profile ‘Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group’. Over the last few years, they have developed special software – which they give away free to manufactures – which aims to detect digital images of banknotes, and prevent them from being printed , or even viewed on screen !
Adobe, for instance, the makers of the industry standard ‘Photoshop’ prog, are already incorporating the code into releases of their products. The same code also appears in some high-end printers too. But the CBCDG isn’t happy yet. They want the EU to pass legislation which will oblige manufacturers by law to insert the code into their products.
Copy protection is always going to be incredibly hard to implement with 100% success, as all the record and film companies are rapidly beginning to realise. But the stakes are obviously a lot higher when it comes to generating copies of what are, in effect. IOU’s from the government.
Quite how this code will deter ‘professional’ copiers is, as usual, far from clear. Bearing in mind the history of high-end banknote forgers, they do tend to be extremely sophisticated enterprises, and one would imagine that they could find a way round the software patches in next to no time. It might help to prevent ‘casual forgers’ though.
The legislation, if it happens, will certainly have a mediaeval ring to it . . . It will be illegal to sell equipment which allows a user even just to look at a digital image of a note. Presumably, analogue devices won’t be covered by the new regs – so you won’t have to buy a licence for your magnifying glass just yet.
See:
Update 15th Jan: The Adobe system has already
been bypassed – as predicted. See
http://www.wired.com/news/print/
cookin fat
The Detroit motor show has unveiled some new ‘crossover’ models , and this year’s favourite colour for cars is ‘green.’
The manufactures are making a big noise about hydrogen powered vehicles : but don’t hold your breath , ( see Dec 2003 ) they’re not going to be widely available for many years. There is, however, currently available technology for vehicles to run on ‘bio-diesel’ – which is really just vegetable oil. The manufacturers are hyping it as a ‘year 2004 cutting-edge solution’ to global warming concerns. ( In theory, the CO2 which is chucked out by a bio-diesel engine will be less than the CO2 which the producing plants took from the atmosphere when they grew. )
You might think that the designers have at last one a round in the struggle to design the special new engines which run on vegetable oil. Er . . not really. The technology has been around for decades.
It’s often assumed that Diesel engines have to run on , er . . . Diesel fuel. They don’t. I was once the co-owner of a Deutz MAH-16 built around 1950 ( don’t ask ). The engine’s manual proudly listed all the fuels it could run on, including peanut oil, palm oil, rapeseed oil – in fact just about any old vegetable oil. It could also run on er . . animal oils, presumably whale oil ( well it was 1950 . . . ).
The truth is that most vegetable oils, if refined properly, are perfectly good Diesel fuels. There are even several species of tree – e.g. Copaifera langsdorfii – which can be tapped for oil which you can put straight into your tank – it doesn’t need any refining at all ! So why aren’t these fuels available, right now, on every filling-station forecourt ? Could it be that the governments of the world would find it a bit tricky – to say the least – to persuade users to pay very high fuel duties on their bio-diesel – if they could also bulk-buy veg oil from a supermarket wholesaler for peanuts ?
And, there is another very well established, tried and tested technology for running vehicles on bio-fuel. Alcohol. You can buy alcohol by the tankfull at any filling-station in Brazil. It’s cheaper than petrol – and works almost as well. There were some difficulties with long-term engine damage when it was first introduced in the 1980’s , but these problems have been largely solved, and nowadays around 20% of the country’s vehicles run on it.
The truth is that ‘green’ fuels are no mystery, no tech barrier, no problem.
But governments, and the inconceivably powerful petroleum industries, have had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards alternatives which might see their revenues evaporate quicker than some spilled ethanol. Brazil made the transition to alcohol because the government wanted to try to insulate the country from world oil prices, and also because sugarcane grows there like there’s no tomorrow.
p.s. There are plenty of conversion kits available which can adapt your oh-so-fussy modern Diesel engine to bio-fuels. Then you can run it on second hand chip-fat if you want to. See link below.
http://www.vegburner.co.uk/links.html
Hold the front page.
Oh dear. Now we don’t know where we are. According to AP ‘wire service’ , the prestigious ‘Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’ has just announced that – quote :
“ the Bush administration systematically misrepresented a weapons threat from Iraq.”
Just to be clear, I looked up ‘misrepresentation’ in
the OED. – it says –
“ to give a false or misleading account or idea of” .
And ‘systematic’ means
“ done or conceived according to a plan or system”.
Now I may be wrong, but I would imagine that the CEIP would choose its words p.d. carefully before issuing a statement like that ! Ouch ! It sounds like – well, it sounds like they’re accusing the administration of lying !
There’s no doubt that, as the never-halting ( predominantly Western driven ) march of technology steamrollers over everything , the threat of ever bigger man-made disasters increases day by day, but the question is – by how much ? Well according to the US government, you’d better git yo’self prepared right away ! They have created a special website which helpfully shows you what precautions you might take : Here’s the link :
Don’t forget to buy extra rolls of aluminium foil next time you go to the supermarket – you wouldn’t want to get roasted.
I don’t know why, but I can’t help thinking of the ludicrous ‘Duck and Cover’ film-campaign aimed at US children in 1951 , when Pres Truman was in control, and when the nulclear (sic.) threat from those damn Rusky’s was , er …. well, it was about the same as it is today actually.
I haven’t been able to find a link to the original film – but here’s a link to the soundtrack – with some animation thrown in . . .
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/dac.shtml
and try the Carnegie site : I think you might find it’s busy though . . .
p.s. Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland, moved to the US, and eventually
made his fortune as a steel magnet ( sorry ! ) . Here’s what he said
in his 1889 book ‘The Gospel of Wealth’
” . . . all personal wealth beyond that required to supply the needs
of one's family should be regarded as a trust fund to be administered for the
benefit of the community.”
He’s still making waves it seems. Respec!
curiouser
A while back ( Oct 2003 ) the site gave a quick mention to a Guardian piece which said that the UK’s Environment Agency was to be represented by PR company called Burson Marsteller ( aka BM ). A curious story, to say the least, and I did promise at the time to try to get some more info – well , I have and I haven’t . . . And it just gets curiouser and curiouser . . .
Firstly, take a look here, at an unbelievable piece laying out what Corporate Watch has to say about some past exploits of BM . . .
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/profiles/
Impressed ? So the question is - would BM necessarily be first name to spring to mind when thinking firms to rep the UK’s pollution watchdog – the Env Agcy ?
By the way, BM are now owned by a company which started out as ‘ Wire and Plastic Products Ltd.’ . . . Eh? The biggest PR firm in Europe owned by a company which makes supermarket baskets ?
Never heard of them ? Me neither. But they might be more familiar under their more moderne moniker of WPP. WPP makes BM look like tiny minnows in the commercial pond. They have 1,400 offices across 103 countries. They own the biggest PR firm in the US, Hill & Knowlton, along with Burson Marsteller, and the ad agencies Young & Rubicam, Olgivy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson, and more than 160 other companies. Strewth ! You might say, that PR and advertising wise, they’ve certainly done their shopping.
So perhaps that might go some way to explaining the Env Agcy’s alleged decision to hire BM – they’re b i g. The UK government loves to employ really, really, really big firms. They sometimes feel they have to, just because the tasks at hand are so enormous, and they’re terrified about contracting smaller firms who might not be able to cope. Hence their penchant for handing out multi-million pound contracts to companies like, um . . . , like EDS for example ? ( remember Ross Perot ? perhaps a good subject for another day . . . )
You’ll noticed the word ‘alleged’ in the above paragraph. That’s because I still haven’t been able to get any word from the agency as to whether the story is actually true or not ! I tried all the avenues I could think of to find out – and enquired, literally, from bottom to top. No illuminating response on the subject. Zilch. Nothing. It’s *almost* as if they are embarrassed about it ? Which is a shame – considering that they, quote “ - have a commitment to openness and transparency ”.
There is, however, a possible route to finding the truth. They have an admirable policy of ‘Open Board Meetings’ , where the public get 45 minutes to ask questions of the board before the meeting . . . And, as luck would have it, there’s one coming up soon ! At their head office in Bristol on the 4th Feb. , so anyone wishing to turn up there can ask what on earth is going on . . .
Here’s a link to their guidelines for attending . . . The press will be there too I believe. Hmmmm.
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk
And here’s a link to the Guardian piece.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Oh by the way, a message for the Env Agcy , the next time you visit
this site – why not e-mail your views, and I’ll post them up for
you !
Digitally challenged.
‘Biometrics’ seems to have become a new buzzword. It sounds very high tech and 2004 , but biometrics have been around for centuries. A mud pawprint on a cave wall is biometric, so is a photo. But now it’s big news, because the US government is insisting that foreigners ( the ones who need visas ) are biometrically logged as they enter the country. The measurements currently take the form of electronic fingerprints and digital photos, which are checked against a database ; in the interests of the ‘fat ginst terrism’.
Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to the authorities that, if you happened to be the kind of person who wanted to enter the country for some illicit purpose, you would necessarily be lacking a few braincells if you decided to turn up at a major international airport with a tourist visa. It’s pretty clear that the measures won’t be much use against a really determined ne’er’do’well, who could, after all, walk across the border from Mexico - as over 3 million people have done already. But it will provide the authorities with what they perceive as a very handy biometric database of millions of ‘foreigners’ - and, of course it’s a tasty contract for the firms who teched-up the hundred or so airports already involved in the scheme.
Many human-rights watchers and some other national governments are far from happy with the arrangements. The first to take any action other than verbal, has been Brazil. They are now insisting that they will give the same welcome to US citizens entering their country as is afforded to them when the visit Miami, New York, and Disneyland. So now they’re photographing and fingerprinting all US nationals arriving at the major airports.
My guess is that, in their case, they have absolutely no interest in the data. Their database collation system may well be a cylindrical metal construction which is real-time updated utilising a stack methodology, and is rationalised on a weekly basis – by the cleaners.
The measures unfortunately add another 2.5 hours onto the time it takes to get out of the airport.
Tourism in Rio is anything but burgeoning at the moment, and it’s certainly not going to be helped by the new protocol – but the government evidently feels it has to make a point –
it’s going to be interesting to see if any other countries follow suit . . .
Any country wishing to join in the fun won’t need access to DNA sequencers, retinal scanners, or gait-recognition algorithms. An ink pad and some sheets of A4 are fine.
Update: After Oct 26th 2004, even travelers who don’t need a visa to visit the US , will be biometrically logged.
cunning
A Guardian piece described one of them as ‘a Mini Pops Tori’, and the other as ‘Winona Ryder - if she shoplifted potatoes’. Well, that’s a bit unkind – they’re only doing their job. They are of course, ‘tATu’, the ‘controversial’ Russian pop duo, brain children of the, ahem - ‘former psychologist’ and ‘advertising guru’ - Ivan Shapovalov. They seem to have created a storm allright – but their Pop-Svengali’s idea was straight out of the textbooks really. Pick some pretty young things, get them to pretend to behave outrageously, inform the press, release a cheesy pop-song or two and hope for the best.
They’re a mysterious bunch though. Although Russian, their record label ‘Interscope’ is anything but. Now apparently under the wing of the US giant General Electric – the West’s favourite military jet engine maker. And, the duo’s English version product was produced by Trevor ( Frankie Goes to Hollywood ) Horn. Their offical website lists the ‘latest news’ at Feb 2003 . . . odd.
Anyway, time for the usual question – why mention them now ?
Because their management company has announced that they are going to run for president in the forthcoming Russian elections. And why not ? ( well, for one thing they’re not old enough , because candidates have to be 35 – but their minders point out that they are running as a duo, and their combined ages should qualify them ) Ok , it’s just another publicity stunt – but the idea – that anyone should be able to run, is surely vital to democracy.
The UK’s late David ( Screaming Lord ) Sutch, - who, in the early days, was an equally outrageous pop act - virtually made a career out of running for every single by-election. He kept it up for years, and so irritated the establishment that, directly as a result of his efforts, they substantially increased the ‘deposit’ fees which were required to enter the running. Not enough to stop him though. His ‘Monster Raving Loony Party’, even won a seat at election once, after some other candidates pulled out. Of course he did it for the publicity, but he also believed, as a counter-elitist, that any common-or-garden punter should be able to run if they want to. If he was still around I’m sure he’d be an executive consultant advisor to tATu . . .
The ‘Official’ tATu website is out to lunch, but there’s plenty of unofficial info at :
http://www.hellonearth.com/tatu/default.html
update : They didn't win. But they're still around.
Is it advertising ? Is it art ? Is it a puff of ‘Monte Cristo’ cigar smoke ?
Or none of the above ? I’m referring to BMW’s ‘film’ website. Currently showing three short films , one directed by John ( Mission Impossible 2 ) Woo, and with a producer’s roster including Ridley ( Mini Metro ad. ) Scott. It’s not that easy to figure out exactly why BMW decided to make these shorts – although of course, da car’s da star, and the site has apparently been ‘a great success’.
They’re not low-budget affairs by any means, ( rumoured to be around $3M per nine minute film ) but the result, on the web at least – is far from stunning. They’re shot in a widescreen format of 7 : 3 But the word ‘widescreen’ here is a little misleading – because, on my monitor at least, using ADSL and Realplayer™, this equates to a screen just 7cm wide ! The area is about the same as a cigarette paper . . . and it’s *not* resizable ! Duh ! Underwhelming to say the least.
As for the content , a grindingly familiar mixture of car chases, guns, explosions – but all featuring the Z4 Roadster ‘jumping, chasing, and muscling’ ( BMW’s words ) . I confess that I couldn’t stand to watch all three films all the way through. The struggle to see what muscling was going on behind the cigarette paper was way too stressful. And there was an overall smell of ‘car commercial’ meets ultra-contrived gênre conformity. They don’t really look like ads, they don’t really feel like films – I’m not sure ( yawn ) what they are . . . but I’ll stick to the local cinema thanks.
Take a squint at -
http://www.bmwfilms.com
( bring your binoculars )
p.s. I like Ridley Scott really. Blade Runner was an absolute classic – but car ads ? Pass the air freshener.
p.p.s Why mention it now ? Because now another manufacturing company, Atari, has made a 3 minute film about one of their games. Called ‘Run the Gauntlet’ it will be released on the www on Jan 23rd. It features “ the destruction of 12 cars, thousands of rounds of ammo, intense car action and explosions.” There’s novelty for you. The production house ? None other than Ridley ( Hovis ad. ) Scott’s RSA.
Update:
By complete coincidence (?) today I happen to be reading a book called ‘ Emotion Pictures ’ by the award winning director Wim Wenders. I hope he won’t mind me quoting a short para from his excellent book, which is still available ( here )
So, here’s what he had to say on the subject, *20 years ago* ! ! !
“. . . This new breed of movies, with their origin in television and commercials ONLY PRETENDS to tell stories. What they really WANT is to ambush, to daze, to blind. NARRATING is difficult: you have to have something to say, and in the last analysis, however well you tell it, you are judged on the truth of what you’ve told. On the other hand, ADVERTISING is easy: you don’t have to have anything to say, as long as what you’ve said and shown sounds good and looks impressive . . . “
Respec’ ! Wim
Nasa’s ‘Stardust’
space probe has successfully ploughed into the tail of comet ‘Wild 2’. The idea is to capture particles of er, whatever-it-is , in the comet’s tail using a collector made from ‘Aerogel’ - and then return the particles to Earth in 2006. The last time anyone retrieved space-based materials - from the Moon in 1976 – they went to great lengths to make sure that the samples weren’t harbouring any dangerous ‘space bugs’. But, as many have pointed out since, the Earth is bombarded on a second-by-second basis with every imaginable kind of space detritus anyway, so this there’s not really any reason to be particularly worried about this new stuff.
Having said that, comets are a prime candidate as vectors for the ‘Panspermia’ theory – that
the Earth was ‘seeded’ by lifeforms from space. ( the theory
is as old as the hills – first recorded mention was by Anaxagoras
(500-428 BC). Later proponents have included star names like Helmholtz,
Kelvin, Crick, Hoyle, Wickramasinghe etc )
The theory is regularly ridiculed by some experts, and revered by others – but,
as time goes by – seems to be more and more plausible.
The world renowned scientist, the late Fred Hoyle, even suggested in the 1970’s that some viral epidemics which affect humans are actually transmitted to Earth via dust from comets. It seemed like a science-fiction idea at first – but there’s still no other explanation as to how some viruses appear at various places on the planet at more or less the same time. If the ‘Stardust’ probe makes it back to Earth without being shredded by hypervelocity particles, we might find out for sure in 2006.
A quick word about ‘Aerogels’ . The nickname for the stuff is ‘frozen smoke’. It’s essentially a glass foam, ( 99.8% air ! ) and it’s a very, very, peculiar material. You might think from Nasa’s website that they’d invented it. They didn’t. It was first made in the 1930’s, and has been patiently waiting to find a useful rôle. As the saying goes - ‘A Solution in Search of a Problem’. One of the main drawbacks with the wonder material, the lightest solid known to science, is that it’s very fragile, so it can’t really be used in any permanent structural way. Great as a space-dust collector though.
Nasa’s ‘Stardust’ site:
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov
An aerogel supplier:
http://www.aerogel.com/
Fred Hoyle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Moore success
Yesterday , Damian Thompson , former religious affairs correspondent of the UK’s Daily Telegraph, wrote a stinging critique of Michael Moore’s success, er, book rather, for his old employer. You can read his review here :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/
Personally , until yesterday, I had no idea who Damian was, not being an overly avid reader of the Telegraph’s religious sections. But he is, it seems, a published author himself. He wrote a book back in 1999 cunningly entitled ‘The end of Time’. ( geddit ? You know, the old millennium ebbing away etc ? Oh, never mind ) Unlike Michael’s works though, for some reason, Damian’s didn’t exactly shoot up the best-seller list.
It’s hard to pin down, but it seems that Mike’s got something Damian hasn’t . . . Why not take a look at Damian’s prose and decide for yourself ? – here’s a sample:
http://www.dhushara.com/book/rebirth/
( If Damian ever gets to read this ; here’s a tip – try not to make the paras quite so long – perhaps 503 words is a touch – you know, er, what’s the word - tedious ? )
If you’d like to get hold of a copy of his illuminating manuscript, Amazon have 119 copies – starting at a very reasonable $0.20 – That means you can get a stonking 74 of them for the same price as 1 of Mike's ! I know a good deal when I see 1.
Jan 2004
Since it’s the first day of 2004, it's as good a time as any to reflect on the age-old debate - viz. ‘can you make a joke about anything ?’ But that really does mean *anything*, – no taboos – no constraints – nothing. Sometimes it is very hard to see any funny side whatsoever to current events – examples abounded during 2003.
Often, the events themselves are a ‘joke’, such as the recent elections in Serbia, when the party which won the most votes has a leader who is awaiting trial by the Warcrimes Tribunal at The Hague. If his party manage to gain control of the country, it won’t be the first time that an indicted war criminal ends up running a country. In fact, there are several running countries across the world right now. Some ‘democracies’ even have special laws which prevent the leaders being arrested – for any crime. None too funny if you happen to live there – on the wrong side of the fence – so to speak.
So, that’s today’s joke – Democracy. Just because you happen to be a vicious thug responsible for the deaths and/or torture of dozens , hundreds, or possibly thousands of innocent people – doesn’t mean you can’t get yourself elected - and protected.
Democracy : Great idea – wrong species.
I know, I know, “Got any better ideas ?” Well, yes, I have actually - a giant, global, super intelligent, benign, computer-dictator – which doesn’t take any nonsense. Programmed to be 100% just, fair, and reasonable under all circumstances.
Trouble is - who’s going to programme it ? I’m not letting that Gates boy anywhere near it.
advertising
|
Editor's picksThe territoriality of park benches re-appraised using ANT
|
|
|
 |
BBC Radio 4
"the world's best radio station"
We are currently looking for syndication outlets for the following weekly columns. . .
www and/or print.
If your publication could use them, please get in touch !
De Cecco
"the world's best commercially produced pasta"
The Big Tie Shop
"the world's best Big Ties"
New Scientist
"the world's best weekly science magazine"
OFFER CLOSED
Crooke's Radiometer (virtual)
Duvel
"the world's best beer"
"the world's best Sciencebase"
The "DoDo"
( Cassina )
"the world's best chair"
Firefox
"the world's best web-browser"
Bösendorfer
"the world's best pianos"
! Ltd.
"the world's best
! company"
