12 Angry Men
January 2nd, 2010
I recently watched “12 Angry Men” and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Absolutely thrilling…
A useful quote…
September 23rd, 2009
As found in “A handbook of public speaking for scientists & engineers“, Peter Kenny, 1982.
“It would be unusual in a technical meeting to have to put a matter to the vote. It is not within the instincts of a professional scientist to support a concept on the basis of such a random process” (emphasis mine).
How true!
Kiss me goodbye and write me while I’m gone
July 21st, 2009
I have never thought much of Canonical and their “we are a free software company but will keep some bits proprietary” attitude (Launchpad I am looking at you). But they are making me like them; they have gone the extra mile and done the right thing. Anyway, try Ubuntu; it is great!
What next? Flying pigs? Microsoft contributing GPL code?
The purpose of purpose
June 21st, 2009
I saw a movie in the cinema today (friday)
June 12th, 2009
I saw Star Trek today and I assessed the new direction/reboot of the iconic series. I offer my opinion to those who care for it and it is:
Star Trek is dead.
The movie was so generic it could have been set in any universe. There is nothing reminiscent of the old series sans the character names and the one liners of old. On the positive side the special effects were pretty good and the sets looked really slick (as a result of a bigger budget I guess). I also thought the level of acting was good but the movie really lacked a credible and/or interesting plot. All in all, the plot holes were so big you could fit a starship through them haha!
Peace out!
Fedora
June 8th, 2009
In a previous entry, I noted that I use Ubuntu GNU/Linux on my laptop, but that was an experiment at the time. I have since come back to my senses and use the same GNU system that I have always used at work, namely Fedora.
A new release is about to happen and I recommend that anyone with a passing interest in computers try it!
On the subject of monitoring behavioural patterns
June 4th, 2009
I recently run into an excellent Firefox extension called Ghostery. This allows you to view in your browser things (“web scripts”) that monitor your behaviour and which then upload the collected data to some third party for further examination. For instance, Google Analytics is such a popular service used by many websites.
I am not implying that such services are necessarily “evil”. In fact, they do help the website owner understand the audience better and provide a smoother online experience. Some websites do this in-house by using custom tools etc. whilst others allow specialised companies to collate and provide meaningful data. So it can be all good, but it seems to me that having this information in the hands of a handful of entities, say a few widely used statistics gathering companies, is not a good thing. Using IP-tracking or cookies such companies can easily monitor your web crawling habbits to some extend.
Anyway, it is good to be informed of such things and then have the option of disabling the monitoring facilities. If you think that this is just paranoid, let me remind you that in the age of information these things take very little time and effort to implement. And, yes the big companies have privacy protection mechanisms (or in some cases a privacy protection “pledge”) in place to ease such concerns.
But it never hurts to be careful and now you, gentle reader, have something to think about.
The old and the new…
May 3rd, 2009
An old article in the New York Times talks about the decision by the U.S. congress in 1999 to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. This led to the economic collapse and the establishment of the absurd “privatisation of profit and socialisation of loss” mantra which deprived many politicians of the little credibility they possessed.
The following is an extract from the article:
”I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930’s is true in 2010,” said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota. ”I wasn’t around during the 1930’s or the debate over Glass-Steagall. But I was here in the early 1980’s when it was decided to allow the expansion of savings and loans. We have now decided in the name of modernization to forget the lessons of the past, of safety and of soundness.”
Well, you know, hindsight is always 100% and I do not want to come across as a smart Alec. I did find the article interesting though, and believed it was something worth sharing.
Salut!
Some lovely people having a lovely time
A 3 minute diversion
April 26th, 2009
The following is an amusing anecdote from Mr. Bill Gray of the Wargamer.
Honestly, I’ve been there myself. When I was stationed in Europe and was starting my adventure into miniatures wargaming, I got a chance to phone Minifigs UK to order 12 packs of Roman Legionaries in 15mm. I actually got the owner on the phone who replied, “So do you want early Etruscan Roman, Velites, Hastatus, Princeps, Triari with spear, Triari with Pilum, Late Republic, Augustin, 1st Century, Early 2d Century, Mid 2d Century, Late 2d Century, 3d Century, 4th century, 5th century or 3d/early 4th century Praetorians?” I flustered a bit and replied I was looking for the Romans who carried the rectangular shields. The owner responded, “OK, you want the Hollywood Romans.”
Privatization of Profits and a Socialization of Costs
April 25th, 2009
The title is an excellent starting query for everyone trying to understand why the “bailout” schemes that have taken place will ultimately lead to another crisis and do little to really improve the economy.
Ok, gentle reader, you got me… there is some bias in the previous statement. But it is late and as a tax payer I am a bit bitter about bailing out failed businessmen. Thanks.