Archive for December, 2009

 

Apple: a bit 1984

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Apple ran one of the most famous television advertisements ever; the famous 1984 spot, implying that Apple would challenge the dominance of a certain company based in Redmond. Smaller than MicroSoft they may be, but they are more closed than the Empire of Gates [update - IBM, not MS. See comments]. Exhibit one is the [...]

 

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Just back from seeing #Avatar in 3D. 'twas really very good # That's interesting. Venezuela one of the countries playing silly buggers at Copenhagen # It would appear that #RageAgainstTheMachine are the Christmas no. 1. # Altogether now: fuck you I won't do what you tell me # Am watching Oz Clarke and Hugh Dennis. [...]

 

C of E Christmas Day hypocrisy

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Turns out that Christmas is a religious festival. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Anyway, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his Christmas address at Canterbury Cathedral, spoke on the theme of dependence. We are in the habit, he said, of thinking of dependence as a bad thing – alcohol dependence, for instance. In [...]

 

Merry Christmas

Friday, December 25th, 2009

and a peaceful new year. xD.

 

Three questions for people who doubt climate change

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

What evidence would it take to convince you that climate change is occurring, serious and largely the result of human activity? Why do you think so many scientists and scientific organisations have said that they believe climate change is occurring, serious and largely the result of human activity? Are they bad scientists, dupes, conscious frauds [...]

 

The Pod Delusion Winterval Special

Sunday, December 20th, 2009
 

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

Just received a scam email with subject 'Dear Victim'. Hmmm… # 1700 UK scientists say climate change is happening http://bit.ly/6TznVs # 140mph service to start London-Ashford. Peak time return? That'll be £48.70, if you please. Unbelievable. # Whoops – @labourhome New Labour – the worst government ever http://bit.ly/8XlZ2f # #IreallydontcareaboutXfactorWillyoupleaseshutupaboutit # No: RT @IanDouglas Would [...]

 

A question about Nato and the EU

Friday, December 18th, 2009

My day job involves working with various members of the Atlantic Treaty Association. There is a general feeling that working with Nato and working with the EU go hand in hand. This is especially pronounced amongst recent and aspirant members, but various associations, explicitly or otherwise, see their role as promoting ‘Euro-Atlantic integration’. I think [...]

 

The Iranian Cyber Army

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Twitter has been hacked this morning by a group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army, which have defaced it with a message in English and Farsi, now removed. When translated, it read: Iranian Cyber Army THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED BY IRANIAN CYBER ARMY iRANiAN.CYBER.ARMY@GMAIL.COM U.S.A. Think They Controlling And Managing Internet By Their Access, [...]

 

Oslo, Heathrow, Westminster tube

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

I’ve only been to Oslo once. It’s a lovely city; I arrived, though, on a winter’s Sunday afternoon. The cold and the habit of Osloers of spending the weekend outside the city meant that there were very few people out and about other than a slightly chilly Brit and a group of protesters outside the [...]