Shakespeare and his Globe

Shakespeare's Globe may not be the best theatre in terms of comfort or convenience but, when it comes to sheer entertainment, it is difficult to fault. You could stand in the pit with the Groundlings and lean on the front of the stage to get up close and personal with the actors, or you might sit in relative luxury (the optional cushion is a must-have item), a little detached from the action but better placed to observe it. In either case, the atmosphere is fantastic and the level of audience involvement is much higher than in an ordinary theatre, where the play is the most important thing and having fun is often looked down upon.

If you haven't been yet, the Globe Theatre (link) is something to look forward to; if you are a seasoned veteran of the Pit then you've had a great experience that should be repeated as soon as possible. 

The Bishops Attack

It is rare for me to defend Gordon Brown and the Labour Government, but an attack by a group of unelected, unrepresentative and unaccountable religious fantasists (the Bishops of Durham, Winchester, Hulme, Manchester and Carlisle - link) on the policies and achievements of the current administration is not something that should be ignored. This is not to say that I agree with the actions of the Government, nor that everything the Bishops say is wrong, but it looks very much like an abuse of their privileged positions for them to use their religion as a launchpad for an attack on a secular Government.

Why is the Pope Obsessed With Galileo?

In a strange break with tradition, the Pope, in a move which would presumably have led to his excommunication and execution for heresy in the 17th century, has paid public tribute to the work of Galileo Galilei (link). The Pope, modestly titled the "Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church", said that an understanding of the laws of nature could stimulate appreciation of God's work; the new science-friendly Catholic Church might now reform its outrageous policies on AIDs, condoms, child abuse, homosexuality, stem cell research, abortion and the alleged celibacy of its priesthood, but it seems unlikely. 

Blogs

I have had a load of ideas for post topics over the last week, none of which has made it as far as the keyboard and now, when I sit in front of the computer with a little time to spare, none of them seem very appealing. Here are a few, in no particular order:

• The car park gadget recently deployed at Gun Wharf Quays,
• SimCity on the iPhone,
• Magazine subscriptions,
• The Old Alresford Christmas Cryptic Quiz,
• Wireless keyboards - blessing or curse?
• Motorway crawler lanes, especially on the M27,
• Trains (again, as if there wasn't enough already written),
• The lack of free public Wifi in the UK.

I also haven't written any reviews or ranted at anything for weeks, which will be a relief to my reader but which I quite miss - there's nothing quite like writing a load of tosh about a load of tosh to raise your spirits. 

Anyway, the point is that after the disruption to my routine caused by spending 50-70% of my time in Tallinn each month, everything is now back to normal and I should have time to write reams of meaningless rubbish on the train each day; if you have missed the dribble I churn out (which seems unlikely), I plan now to sate your thirst with more irrelevent (and irreverent) scrawlings than you can shake a stick at. You have been warned.

Train Frustration

This morning's train wasn't cancelled but it was so late that it might
as well have been. When it eventually arrived, South West Trains had
left half the carriages at the previous station so it was a little
crowded when it reached Southampton Airpor.

I gave up on the 0708, usually a quiet, relaxed train on a Friday, and
caught the 0738 instead which, because of the delays, ran only seven
minutes later.

Short Train

My normal morning train has ten carriages and is almost always full
but today's has only five after a points failure prevented the second
half of the train teaching the station where the two parts were to be
concatenated. As a result it is fairly busy, not to say completely
rammed. No seat for me today.

Leicester Square Bar and Restaurant

Excellent dinner this evening with Lucien and Ko at the above-
mentioned establishment. We waited a long time to eat but the food was
very good (I recommend the salmon). Worth a visit but allow plenty of
time.

Booking through TopTable (www.toptable.co.uk) was, as ever, simplicity
itself.

Car Park Running

I have this morning run the length of the station car park three times
as I hurried to buy a parking ticket, deliver it to the car and then
return to the platform to catch the 0650 to Waterloo. As I collapsed
panting into the first empty seat, I decided that I need to work
harder at the gym.

Hats

I am not normally a big fan of hats but I find myself seriously
tempted by the Estonian leather and fur hats on sale at the Christmas
Market inthe town square. At the moment the choice is between sheep
and rabbit (the blue fox is a little too grand for my tastes). More
later...

Measles and Economics

Last time (probably). The Economist has an article about the upswing in measles cases in the UK which is rather more informative and better written than my recent scribblings. You can find it here.

MobileMe

I have been using Apple's MobileMe service for a few months to see how it goes but, with the end of my free trial period fast-approaching, I have unsubscribed on the grounds that it offers far too little benefit for the money. If I made more use of the features it might be better value but using it only for Contact synchronisation and backup is rather a waste, especially as the iPhone syncs perfectly well with Exchange, to which I also have access.

Will I reconsider in the future? Not as things stand, no, but if Apple bulk-out the service and offer new innovative features then maybe. If the cost was lower (say £10 a year) I might have stuck it out to see what Apple could come up with over the next few months but £59 is too much to ask for a service that offers no real benefit.

Rain-Soaked Jeans

My train today has been delayed by signalling problems which has given
my jeans time to dry after the soaking they received in Southampton.
Unfortunately, the weather appears to be no better in London so the
reprieve from damp trousers will be brief.

It could have been worse, however; Tallinn's forecast is just as damp
and even colder, with the threat of snow tonight and tomorrow. It
looks like my next trip to Estonia (Monday) will be an exercise in
keeping warm. Where can I buy snowshoes?

More Rain

Southampton today is cold and wet; horizontal rain seems to be the
order of the day, so I sit now on the train, steaming gently, hoping
that the weather in London will be slightly better.

Quote of the Day

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

A book worth reading. Get it here.

Vacuum Cleaners

Susie and I have owned a Dyson vacuum cleaner (only one - it's been
very reliable) for about eight years and it was only yesterday that I
realised that none of the hose attachments were suitable for cleaning
the hob. Strange world.

Return of an Old Enemy

Not the Scots (they never went away) but Measles, which is once again loose in the UK after the Daily Mail's distressingly successful campaign against the MMR vaccine (see link for an example of how irresponisble journalists and ignorant readers feed off each other's paranoia and stupidity). As I may have mentioned in an earlier post (this one), Measles isn't the cuddly childhood illness that many people seem to remember; it can kill and severely disable its victims even when they receive the best available healthcare and in the 3rd World it remains a major killer with over 400,000 victims per year, worldwide.

Andrew Wakefield's original "research" into the link between the vaccine and Autism has been shown to contain so many basic and irrecoverable flaws as to be utterly useless and a number of major studies have since shown no links between MMR and Autism. Indeed, when the MMR vaccine was replaced with single shots in a large-scale study (report) in Yokohama the number of Autism cases continued to rise but, depressingly, the Daily Mail continues its crusade to expose our children to unnecessary risk of illness, disability and death. Go Mail!

Why?

Why to smelly people chose to sit next to me on the train? It's
particularly annoying at the end of a trying day and it can make very
unpleasant a journey that would otherwise be merely uncomfortable.

iPhone 2.2 - Update

First impressions are good - my Contact list works, I can again email photos and the Email client seems to be massively more stable. Safari also appears to work, which is something of a relief. The new walking directions in Maps look useful, although the Public Transport option has been disabled for all the locations I have so far inspected. 

Overall, it looks like the upgrade from 2.1 to 2.2 is probably worthwhile.

iPhone 2.2

Version 2.2 of the iPhone software is now out and I am hoping it will fix the problems I have had with 2.1. Downloading now, more comment when it is installed. The full list of changes is:

iPhone 2.2 Software Update

This update contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

• Enhancements to Maps

   - Google Street View

   - public transit and walking directions

   - display address of dropped pins

   - share location via email

• Enhancements to Mail

   - resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching 

      of email

   - improved formatting of wide HTML email

• Improved stability and performance of Safari

• Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes 

   application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)

• Decrease in call set-up failures and call drops

• Improved sound quality of visual voicemail messages

• Pressing the Home button from any Home screen takes 

   you to the first Home screen

• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard 

   Settings

Tallinn Looks Cold

I'm in the UK at the moment but I might be in Tallinn for a couple of
nights next week and I'll be there for a week in early December. This
isn't usually too much of a problem but the temperatures have dropped
from 8-10 degrees last week to around zero this week, and I don't
really like the cold; by the time I get back in December it'll be too
cold even for the brass monkies.

Travelling Home

In the air again, travelling home from Tallinn. I have done this trip about eighteen times this year, which works out at 244 hours spent either in an airport or travelling to, from or between airports. Business travel and working abroad are not exciting or glamourous - they're hard, boring and stressfull.

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Pancakes for Dinner

In a continuation of the recent Estonian Food Odyssey, I dined last night with a colleague at Kompressor, a pancake restaurant on Rataskaevu.

Strange as it may seem, almost every item on the menu was a pancake of some sort. Our "main courses" consisted of pancakes with roast chicken (tasty, but served only with a bowl of sour cream) and pancake with ham and cheese (again, very good, but somewhat unbalanced as far as nutritional content goes) and, to be honest, I don't think I would recommend savoury pancakes as a staple dietary component.

Their dessert pancakes, on the other hand, worked much better. Their grilled banana and honey pancakes were very good, almost worth a visit in their own right.

The meal cost around £13 for two people and although I would happily go again, I think I would skip straigt to the dessert pancakes (maybe after eating a traditional meat-and-two-veg main course somewhere else).  Recommended, especially if you are a fan of the noble pancake.

Made It!

I did eventually make it to the airport but the journey includedan unfeasibly large number of country lanes, along which the taxi hurtled at near-suicidal speeds. My next task, which can hardly be less dangerous, is to find food at the airport - death draws ever closer...

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Rain

I am now stuck on the A283 (in a taxi), trapped by the rain, floods and an accident. Will I make my flight? The tension is mounting...

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Weather and Trains

Back to Tallinn this week, which means a trip to Gatwick Airport (not the worst airport in the UK, but only because Heathrow is still open). Normally I walk (or take a taxi) to the local station and then take a direct train to the South Terminal, but today the weather and Network Rail have conspired to kill most of the trains on the south coast so I have opted instead to take a taxi all the way to the airport. This costs three times as much as the train but should get me there in reasonable time and comfort.

Election Night

The day of the US Election is here and tomorrow the free world will have a new leader. Like everyone else, I expect Obama to win but still worry that the pollsters might be wrong, that the voters might be less liberal than they appear, and that the McCain/Palin team might just squeek through to steal victory from the jaws of defeat. Would that really matter? Who knows, but I would rather not find out.

Go Obama!

London on a Saturday

London is rather less busy today than it normally is during the week when I am here. It is rather strange seeing normally busy streets free of people but I suspect it will pick up this afternoon as people head into town for the evening.

I am killing time in London at the moment while Susie attends an Occupational Therapy conference of some sort. Wandering around the West End is entertaining, but it will probably get a little boring. I'm off to the Apple store on Regent street shortly to look at iPhone accesories. I might buy a new headset - exciting, eh?

Home

Back in the UK after a week in Tallinn and it's rather cold - looks like poor organisation to me because London is cold win a hint of snow while Tallinn is mild and rainy.

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Mandy and the Russians

Is it possible that Lord Mandelson could already be embroiled in the scandal that will cause his third cabinet resignation? It looks (BBC story) as if the vultures are circling, keen to know exactly what went on between Lord Mandelson and a Russian billionaire, and when. 

Commuting

First day on a commuter train since May and over-crowding seems to have got worse. Previously it was possible to board at Southampton Airport Parkway and find a seat by Winchester but today nobody got off from my carriage so I sat on the floor.

More trains, please, and more carriages.

Train was on time, though.

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Bonuses

There is a lot of talk on the news today about the bonuses paid to city traders who are, apparently, being blamed for the current financial crisis. As far as I can see, however, the problems stem from the lending of mortgages to people unable to afford the repayments in the long-term. Rather than the traders, it is the bank managers and branch financial consultants who have lent money inappropriately and it is they that should have their bonuses cut. Let's leave the traders alone and let the market punish them - they're the people who might, if we're lucky, be able to trade and bargain their way out of the current difficulties, eventually making life easier for everyone.

Punish the people who lent the money, and the idiots who borrowed it, not the traders who, it appears, are guilty only of earning a lot of money for doing a difficult, challenging and stressful job.

The Thrill Of Flying

Imagine my excitement when, upon boarding this evening's flight to Tallinn, I found that the inflight magazine has received it's quarterly update! What delights, what scintillating examples of the jounalist's arts, might await my eager eyes?

Imagine my disappointment, then, as I find articles entitled "Baltic Bird Paradise", "Estonia's Tax Phenomenon" and, my favourite, "Heat up the Sauna". Sleep cannot come quickly enough.

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Short Day

And my "working" day is now over and I'm off to Tallinn. Three and a half hours isn't really enough time to setup a new laptop, sift through my emails (only 300 - could have been much worse) and catch up with colleagues but I'll be back in London next week and at least I have reminded everyone that I still exist.

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Travelling Again

I am off to Tallinn again today (joy) but only for a short visit (back on Friday). I took a taxi to the station this morning (normally I walk) after collecting cash from the spitting brick. To keep things interesting I forgot my PIN and had to withdraw money on my credit card, which is always a trying experience. I fear the day can only deteriorate.

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Gunships on the Thames

Susie and I were in London on Thursday afternoon to see the Hadrian exhibit at the British Museum (worth seeing if you're a fan of Ancient Rome but give it a miss if think Pizza Hut is the height of Italian cuisine). On the way back to the station I couldn't help noticing the Apache Gunship (link) circling Waterloo Bridge and the Southbank (in case you don't often visit London, it is not normal to see this sort of hardware in the Metropolis).

I have no idea what the thing was doing (although one should not rule out a strike on Tate Modern by a gang of militant art-lovers) but it got me wondering about the circumstances under which I would like to see a Gunship in my vicinity; I came to the conclusion that there are none. This sort of helicopter is a bit like the SAS - everyone is glad that they're around to do their job, but you wouldn't really want to be in the area when they're doing it and if you've spotted them you should probably run away.

Why was it there? Here are four possible reasons:

1. Filming - somebody is shooting footage and it absolutely has to be of an Apache over London. Sounds unlikely.
2. Protection - someone important was in the area and a Gunship was vital to their security. Seems improbable, and it would probably be better to sacrifice the dignatory than to have an Apache shooting at the perceived threat in a city as crowded as London.
3. Other security - maybe the Apache has equipment not available to the Police. 
4. Training - maybe the crew needed training in flying over an urban landscape. Doesn't sound very likely - why choose central London in any case?

Maybe you could suggest some more likely explanation?

Blogtastic!

Long time, no blog. I took a break while we were on holiday but normal service resumes tomorrow. Tune in for meaningless drivel, pointless rants, unremarkable photographs and ill-considered reviews.

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Fun on the Sand

We arrived in Porthtowan earlier today and had dinner in the Blue Bar. The food was pretty good, with very generous portions, but the highlight of the evening was the local who drove a short-wheelbase Shogun onto the beach and became stuck in the dry sand. 

The Blue Bar affords a view across the bay so we had ring-side seats for the entertainment. Realising he was stuck, he tried a bit of brute force and successfully buried his rear axle in the sand. Ten minutes of pushing, jumping and generally inept attempts to free the stricken vehicle by the driver and his two mates failed utterly, but eventually a dozen people strolled over and pushed him clear, then pushed him out again when he got stuck fifteen feet further down the beach, then again as he failed to get up the ramp to solid land.

All in all a good night's entertainment, especially when viewed from a warm bar with food and beer to hand.

A Tonic for Tallinn

Returning from Tallinn for a short break, I have found that the perfect way to recover is a quiet pub and a large plate of Toad-in-the-Hole with mashed potato, green beans and onion gravy. Very nice.

Exeter's Working Environment

This morning I am working from various coffee shops in Exeter (holiday starts tomorrow). Costa is quiet and has free Wifi (albeit limited to 60 minutes a day) so I'm taking advantage and enjoying a rather nice Earl Grey tea. 

This branch of Costa is located within a branch of Waterstones, combining at a stroke two brilliant elements of our cultural landscape; tea and books. Excellent. If only my battery was longer-lasting and my laptop screen was fully functional (it is flickering badly and, occasionally, cutting out altogether). Bring on the new laptop!

The AA

Cars are a burden. If they aren't drinking petrol and oil they're wearing out or breaking, often at the most inconvenient times or when they can cause maximum expense. In many ways, they're like computers - absolutely vital to modern life and enormously useful, but capricious and determined to cause problems wherever they can.

Today mine refused to start and it took the AA, a new battery and £64 to get it going again. The AA were superb - they're far more reliable than my car - arriving only 20 minutes after I called them and fixing the problem promptly.

Early Morning, Tallinn

Tallinn at 6am is fairly quiet, but not much quieter than it is at midnight. The clubs, including the one in the basement of the apartment building where our company maintains a flat, were still open and there were punters milling around the entrance. The only cars moving at 6am are cabs but they still have to dodge the trams, which seem intent on picking up early morning victims amongst the less cautious taxi drivers. Survival of the fastest?

Friday Night in Tallinn ...

... and the pubs are filling, mostly with ex-pats. And the golf is on the TV and the smelly Russian is back. I think I'll head back to the apartment...

Muslims Against Mickey

The Telegraph is carrying a story about another mad Saudi Arabian cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Munajid, calling for the death of corrupt westerners. Munajid, however, is clearly finding it difficult to distinguish between fiction and reality  (a side effect of reading dodgy religious texts, maybe?) - his target is Mickey Mouse (link). 

I wonder if there are other fictional characters he'd like to dispose of? Should we be putting bodyguards on Sherlock Holmes (drug-crazed detective), Billy Bunter (jam-eating hedonist of Greyfriars) or Moby Dick (dangerous albino whale)? What about Dracula - he is pretty nasty - does Munajid want to do away with him? Or that God bloke from the Bible who wipes out whole cities in some stories? All very dangerous, I'm sure you'll agree.

Basketball

I'm in Hell Hunt for a quiet dinner and, having stuck to the snacks, it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately Estonia are playing Latvia (Basketball) and they've put the match on the projector making the place rather noisy and unpleasant. If it weren't for the fact that Molly's is likely to be infested with drunk football fans I'd move pubs.

Sky Broadband - No Download Limit!

SkyBroadband have dropped their fair usage policy (news article) on their 16Mb service which is bound to be of interest to Sky TV subscribers who use another ISP (although, confusingly, their website small-print still says "Max - Unlimited subject to Fair Use Policy"). 

Smelly Drinkers

I am trying to eat my dinner, here in Tallinn, and the guy at the next table is disturbing me by allowing his dreadful body odour to waft in my general direction. It is pretty disgusting and I will have to leave soon before I am infected.

Basso

Lunch today at Basso, a cafe/cocktail bar where I've previously only been for drinks. Not bad - penne with chicken and sundried tomatoes was very nice, and the creme brulee was also pretty good. 

I am not sure where to go for dinner - I think it is too soon to return to Texas Honky Tonk, so maybe one of the pubs, if my stomach can stand it.

Blogging for Glory

Back in the old days (early 2002) when I first started blogging I spent quite a lot of time ranting about various things. More recently this blog has tended to be a running commentary on my day-to-day experiences with occasional rant-ettes when something particularly annoys me and this is fine (although I suspect that it becomes rather boring for my reader) but it means I don't get to vent very often and I think this is probably bad for my health (well, not really, but I have to find a justification somewhere). 

So here we go again. I have added another blog to my list (link - I suggest you use an RSS reader to pick up new entries because they will probably not be regular enough to justify daily visits) where I can post longer, more considered, but still (hopefully) moderately entertaining rants about life's little problems. The first post is up (link) and I hope you will do me the honour of mooching on over for a look when you have time.

Downgrading to Upgrade

iPhone misery continues - I have found that with 2.10 software I can no longer attach photos to email messages, removing one of my principal sources of entertainment. This is the straw, I'm afraid, and with the camel's back completely buggered I will now revert to 2.0.2 and await 2.10.1 before upgrading again.

Happy in Texas

Texas Honky Tonk turned out to be pretty good, falling into the category of "good food, reasonably priced". A modest venue, the main course of chicken with spicy rice was tasty and robust, although the New York cheesecake was rather disappointing. Overall more hit than miss, and I will probably return.

On a side note, though, I am still searching for a decent dessert at a reasonable price. Bocca's creme brulee is very good (and not unreasonably expensive) but it's a fairly serious restaurant and I do not really want to visit it on my own. The pubs do not do desserts in any meaningful way so tomorrow I will try one of the restaurants on Rataskaevu in my continuing quest for a hot pudding.

Dinner

For this evening's culinary experiment, I will try the Texas Honky Tonk Cantina. As long as the food is less ridiculous than the name, it should be ok.

Dangers of the Bleeding Edge

My foray into version 2.10 of the iPhone OS has not been entirely successful. Yesterday's post about the stability of the email client and the speed of the contact list was broadly correct, but two fairly major bugs have since reared their heads:

1. The contact list loads quickly but is desperately and completely unstable if opened from the Home page, crashing every time within a few seconds and bombing completely after 9-12 seconds. Opening the contact list from an application (such as TruPhone) works perfectly well.
2. The Mail, Contacts and Calendar page in Settings is unavailable; it turns blue as normal when selected but then does nothing for a few seconds before bombing back to the Home page.

I have now two options:

1. Live with it and hope for an update that fixes the issues, or
2. Revert to a previous version of the OS.

Neither option is very appealing, but I think I'll see how it goes for a couple of days and, if I appear to be experiencing "unique" problems, I will roll back to 2.0.2. If there are loads of people reporting these problems then I think I will wait for an update on the assumption that it will arrive reasonably quickly...

iPhone Software Update 3

Downloaded and installed. Everything seems still to be working. Two things I have noticed so far:

1. The mail client is still not completely stable but it has definitely improved, and
2. The contact list is much, much faster to load and browse - big improvement.

Battery life is also supposed to have improved - more on that later. 

So should you upgrade to 2.10? Yes, because you own an iPhone and there's no point being at the bleeding edge of technology and style if you're running last week's software.

iPhone Software Update 2

Version 2.10 is available - downloading now...

iPhone Software Update

The next version of the iPhone software is due today and hopefully it will address some of the more obvious shortcomings (a stable email client would be nice). It isn't available yet, of course, because the lazy swines in California aren't up yet. More comment later...

Winter Draws Near

The weather might be a little unseasonal in the UK but at least the temperature is holding up; here in Tallinn it looks like 13 degrees might be as warm as it gets this month, and I can't see October being any better. If you're thinking of visiting, heavy coats are advisable because the autumn winds are starting to make things just a little too cold for comfort; you might wander around London in shirt sleaves but you probably would not want to do that in Tallinn.

Adventures in Airport Architecture

The new departure lounge at the South Terminal of Gatwick Airport is, I think, almost finished, which is just as well because the airport has only been open 50 years and I wouldn't want visitors to think that British construction projects were always late and over-budget. The new lounge is not too bad, as airport lounges go; it is air-conditioned, it has monitors to tell you how late your plane is, it has a horrible pub, it has shops and it has a games room where mindless cretins play banal video games with mind-numbingly annoying sounds that spill over into the otherwise quiet seating area. It is just as well that I have these entertainments to distract me because my plane is delayed by at least an hour and without something to occupy my time I might well go mad. 

Actually, madness has a certain appeal...

Beginner's Guide to Tallinn

I've been living in Tallinn, on and off, for about 4 months so I think I have a reasonable idea about what goes on in the city, what makes it tick. I have now published a collection of my more superficial impressions (link) which may, or may not, be of interest to potential visitors.

Rain

It has rained quite a lot in the last few days. Our garden, which is normally bone dry and dying in the summer, has been sodden all year and is now aiming for "lake" status. I think I'll buy a canoe...

Breakfast Update

We made it to Alresford only to find that the Agricultural Show had been abandoned because of the rain and the centre of town was completely full of disgruntled rural types. Caracoli (link) was packed but we managed to squeeze onto a table and grab croissants and coffee so the trip wasn't a complete loss. Back home soon for an afternoon on the sofa with a book, watching the rain and drinking hot tea.

Breakfast

I am at the gym in Southampton after an early morning workout and thoughts have now turned to breakfast. Choices are limited to traditional English breakfast fodder, none of which will be of a particularly high standard...

Excellent! Susie wants to go to the coffee shop (Caracoli) in Alresford - much better.

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Natural History Museum, London

The Natural History Museum in London is only a year away from the opening of their new Darwin Centre 2 (link). I want to go and I have already made a note in the calendar. 

Economic Evolution

The Economist is one of my favourite news sources because their articles are well-written, sensible and thoughtful. Here is an example from this week's issue: Beetle Drive.

Google Chrome

I'm a sucker for new technology - phones, TVs, gadgets, email clients - but I'm particularly keen on new technology that's free, which is why Google's announcement yesterday of Chrome, their new browser, is of such interest.

I had a quick flick through their explanatory comic to see what they were aiming to deliver, and it looks really good. If they've really done what they say they've done then the browser market is in for a rough ride. It will be interesting to compare it to the new IE8 Beta (which I recently installed).

Quote of the Day

Two, today, both from General Sir Charles James Napier, who put down insurgencies in India and conquered various tribal territories in Pakistan.

You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

He also offers advice about the pacification of a hostile population.

The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed.

Free Wifi and Peer-to-Peer Downloading

Is it reasonable to use a pub's free wifi connection to download part of a 12Gb (yes, that's "12Gb", not a typo) online game client, or is that pushing the bounds of polite behaviour? I am not sure what the rules of etiquette are in this situation but I think I shall assume that a 12Gb download probably falls outside the bounds. I can, at least, enjoy the atmosphere and the food.

Obama and Science

There has been some concern that America's politicians know nothing about science, don't want to learn about it and would instead prefer to trust their invisible sky-friends and magic books. This page (link) gives the first hint that Barack Obama might take a different stance to George W. Bush when it comes to science, education, technology and the application of these disciplines to the real world. His comments on stem cell research are particularly encouraging since they represent a clear and complete break with the religiously motivated policies of the current administration.

Blog Fiddling

I have done a little work reorganising the layout and settings of my blogs, adding a couple of extra widgest and removing some of the more boring ones. I've also changed the template (again) and I think the new one is much clearer, making the posts easier to read and, on the Photo Blog, allowing the photos to be shown full-width.

I have also added a third blog (part of my quest to dominate the world of online publishing) where I plan to publish reviews of books, films and gadgets (first post is up already). In a change to the brief ranting style that you normally find here, the review site will feature longer but less regular (I am aiming for one a week) posts that will, hopefully, inform and amuse.

Thanks for reading - let me know what you think.

Lunch at the Yard

Well, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great either. Half a chicken (the left, I think), some chips and some cabbage salad followed by a slightly bizarre but not unpleasant creme brulee, washed down with a pint of orange juice and a dodgy cappuccino. I don't think I'll go back, although I might pop back to visit Restaurant O next door, rumoured to be the best in Tallinn, if I can stand the prices.

Sunday Lunch

My quest to try every public house in Tallinn continues. Today I'm off to Scotland Yard (I kid you not) near the port for lunch, although the reviews say it is often crowded with tourists and your intrepid reporter might chicken out if it is full of drunk Finns. Assuming it isn't, and if I can get hold of a menu, I'll submit a quick note on the quality of their food sometime this afternoon.

Hull v Wigan Athletic

The football is on in the pub where I'm having dinner and, even to my untutored eye, it looks like Hull are being destroyed by Wigan Athletic. At the moment the score is 5-0 to Wigan, which, I believe, is probably bad for Hull.

As you may know, I have no real interest in football (I don't even know which competition these teams are playing in) but there's something sadistically appealing to watching a team take such a comprehensive drubbing. I guess this isn't really the way that Hull wanted to start their season, but at least things can only get better.

Tallinn Maritime Museum

Reputed to be the best museum in Tallinn, the Maritime Museum is housed in a converted 16th century canon tower. The medieval exterior doesn't really prepare you for the concrete of the brutalist interior - it's almost the bastard child of the Tower of London and the South Bank Centre, but nowhere near as impressive.

Several floors of exhibits, guarded by fearsome be-spectacled dragons, are presented for the intrepid visitor. The first covers Baltic lighthouses and harbours in some detail and in English but this should not lull you into a false sense of security; later floors are almost entirely devoid of English, consisting mostly, and not unreasonably, of Estonian and Russian language presentations.

Unfortunately, this does rather reduce the impact of the exhibits and so, apart from the modest architectural interest of the building, a visit can really only be recommended if you speak Estonian (or Russian) or if you like looking at model ships. English landlubbers should stay away.

Yet Another Pub

This is turning into "Notes on a Pub Crawl", or something similar.

Tonight I am in St Patrick's, an Irish (surprise) bar just off the main square in Tallinn. It's early, so the place is practically empty (although Hell Hunt was almost full at this time last night) and it's quiet, which is ideal for those of us who want to work, email and blog.

I have just had dinner (Chicken meal with oven baked potatoes and cheese) and shortly I'll head back to the apartment for a lonely night in. The meal was ok, but the description was incomplete; it was actually chicken and baked potato chunks in a creamy mushroom and pineapple sauce, topped with lashings of cheese and grilled to within an inch of its life. Tasty, but unexpected.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

The Register has an amusing article (NSFW - link) about posters used a while ago to advertise Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (which is barely 10 miles from home).

For a more serious (and useful) site, try www.historicdockyard.co.uk

A New Pub

Actually, it isn't a new pub at all but the oldest in Tallinn - Hell Hunt. That sounds dreadful until someone explains that it translates to "Gentle Wolf", which is a little more friendly. I've ordered food - let's see what it is like.

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Food Update

The meal was basically chips covered in mince and cheese. Not too bad but it would have been better without the gherkins. I will probably eat there again but I won't be having the same dish.

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Planet of the Hats

Prof. PZ Myers has a most amusing satirical piece about the Planet of the Hats. Worth a look if you're into that sort of thing (which I am).

Weather

The weather in Tallinn has turned cold and damp. Temperatures are down to around 16 degrees and it has rained for the last few days making it a fairly grim place to be. The outlook for the next few days is much the same, so indoor activities are the order of the day and the highlight of the weekend will be a trip to the Estonian Maritime Museum (link).

Estonia's Olympic Success

I am having dinner in Molly Malone's, Tallinn's most obvious Irish pub. Outside, on the town square, various high-ranking officials are congratulating the returning Olympic heroes (Estonia won a gold in the Men's Discus and a silver in the rowing), presenting them with wreaths and forcing them (and us) to listen to a local pop star belt out a selection of her hits. Not a bad party, but I think I'd rather have been in London.

Flight OV102

OV102, from Gatwick to Tallinn, is by now pretty routine but I am always slightly surprised when the check-in staff completely ignore the seat preferences so carefully gathered by the Estonian Air website. This evening's flight was too bad, arriving on time and without incident but we were transferred by coach to the terminal building, which is slightly tedious, especially as the airport clearly had plenty of under-utilized piers standing idle.

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Quote of the Day

When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

Sir Winston Churchill

Photos

Lifecast, the application I use to Blog from my iPhone, can handle photos so I thought I'd start another blog (link) to which I would submit the images taken with my phone's camera. Unfortunately, it can't (at the moment) do photos and text, so blog entries will consists only of a headline and a photo.

Crecy

Today is the 662nd anniversary of the Battle of Crecy.

Old Winchester Hill

Susie and I walked up to the top of Old Winchester Hill on the coldest, wettest August bank holiday for a long time. The views should have been great but low cloud and misty rain conspired to hide them for most of the time. The shot below was about as clear as it got. I think we'll go back when it is clear, probably in the Autumn.



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Cardiff - Technological Blackspot

I was out in Cardiff town centre yesterday trying to meet up with the wife. To do this, I needed to know where I was in relation to her but my trusty iPhone, to which I have turned with increasing frequency over the last few weeks when this sort of question has arisen, has rendered helpless by the apparent lack of 3G and wifi coverage. This turned out to be incredibly frustrating even though, just a few weeks ago, I would not have expected to be able to access useful information while standing on the street.

Apple's iPhone is, I think, changing the game. Mobile internet access turns out to be so fantastically useful that it's absence represents a serious degradation of quality of life (although this probably says more about me than the technology).

Review of the iPhone to follow, but the broad conclusion is very good. If you're after a top-class data device, iPhone is the one for you.

Cardiff Bound

Susie and I are off to Cardiff today: me to visit my brother; Susie, with her sisters, to see Madonna in concert at the Millenium Stadium.

Unfortunately, because Jon is working nights, I will be entertaining myself after about 6:30. A trip to the cinema beckons, probably to see The Dark Knight, then I hope to meet up with the girls for latenight nibbles and drinks in town.

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Dinner

Dinner at Greens in Wickham. Superb as usual.

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Google Maps

Google's map service, which is in many ways a fantastic product, has recently added a "walking" feature so that pedestrians can plan routes as well as car drivers. This is great but it doesn't take account of preferred walking speed (unlike the excellent TFL site which allows, if memory serves, slow, medium and fast) so the time estimates are not all that helpful if you move at anything above a slow hobble.

As a result, I've been sitting at this station for ten minutes, having completed my journey in about 75% of the forecast time. Not a huge problem you might think, and I would have to agree - I'm complaining for the sake of it. I still love Google Maps and it's only a matter of time before they add this feature. And it beats MapQuest hands down.

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Lord of the Rings

I stumbled across an article (link) explaining how Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is basically an advertising pamphlet for the Catholic Church. Hmm.

The article is a great piece of wishful thinking - the author is desperate to make his arguments stick but he quotes mostly (if not exclusively) from the Bible, which rather undermines his position. Not an article that's worth reading, in my opinion.

Normal Service is Resumed

After several days of fairly serious posts, normal service is now resumed with this link to an amusingly mocked-up picture of George Bush, alleged President of the US.

The Day After

We spent this morning with my Grandmother in an unusually quiet house. My Grandfather's absence is palpable, especially when the dogs are playing up or when the tea is being made (his fingers were so big that he had his own large-handled mug that nobody else ever used). Most strange was the fact that this was my first visit to the farm where he hasn't been sitting in his chair or working in the garden or making something in the workshop or feeding the pigs or arguing with his wife or - you get the idea.

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After

So the service is done and apart from the overtly religious nature (I don't remember my Grandfather being even slightly religious, but maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought) it seemed to me ok. The priest said nice things, most of the congregation mumbled the prayers and it didn't take too long.

The first half of the wake was a little trying (socialising with people I don't know is not my strong suit) but towards the end I was able to spend quality time with my close family and that rather made up for everything else, particularly chatting to my cousins, with whom I have spent far too little time over the past ten years.

Tomorrow we will visit my Grandmother in the morning before heading home, and it is back to work on Wednesday.



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At The Crematorium

So now we are waiting at the crematorium for the rest of the clan, having arrived about twenty minutes early. The rain has cleared and there are occasional flashes of sunlight but the atmosphere seems to have drawn in and the humidity has

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Killing Time

There is something slightly depressing about killing time before a funeral, especially if it includes shopping in a wet and dreary Lincoln. Found a shirt to wear this afternoon and bought a book (The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan - review later) but apart from that it was a rather dull morning and I can't see things improving before tomorrow.

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De-Stress

Stress levels are falling, somewhat. Susie did a great bit of work for the Order of Service and after dozing on the plane I finished off the work I needed to do on the train. A little light shopping yesterday morning (not ideal, but bearable) then an early night have done wonders but I won't really relax until after the funeral tomorrow when we're back at the hotel.

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Stress

It has been a busy week and next week doesn't look like being much better. A demanding job, an unexpected change of travel arrangements (to accommodate a family funeral), visits from London colleagues and a delayed flight have conspired to make this a tricky few days.

The flight is delayed just long enough for me to miss my train but not long enough that I will avoid a long wait at Gatwick station. Should I try to work ok the plane and relax tomorrow, of should I work tomorrow and sleep now? Can I manage to write something for the Order of Service or do I give up and disappoint my Mother? Do I stay in the distant north on Monday evening after the funeral or do the wife and I travel home and spend Tuesday recovering?

Too much to do, too little sleep.

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Late Night, Early Morning

Dinner at Troika, a Russian restaurant, last night with colleagues from London then a modest pub crawl around the centre of Tallinn, ending up in the Depeche Mode bar (they didn't believe it really existed). Great fun, but I could really do with an early night and a good sleep - being the office is not ideal.

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Gatwick Amenities

I would not normally write a review for a toilet but regular travellers through Gateick Airport's south terminal would be well-advised to use re toilets on the far side of WorldDutyFree rather than the facilities on the other side of the departure lounge near security. Why?
1) They are brand new and nicely laid out,
2) There are no doors at the entrance so you can't accidentally pick up germs from other people's unwashed hands,
3) The hand driers are neaty integrated into the vanity unit above the basin so no queuing to dry your hands.

It doesn't sound like much but a well-planned WC removes one source of traveller's stress and makes Gatwick just a little more pleasant.

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Swanwick

It takes about 25 minutes to walk to our local station (Swansick) and the trains are invariably late. Today is no exception, although the delay is only four minutes. There is nothing to do at the station except wait unless you want a takeaway from the Park Gate Tandoori. I have not yet been delayed long enough for this to seem like a good idea. Maybe next time.

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Cosham

The gym was good this morning but I am now waiting at Cosham station for the train to Swanwick and it is not an inspiring place to kill time. At least, with iPhone in hand, I can do a little light email work and chase the team in Tallinn, to where I return this evening.

I had a walk around Cosham Park earlier in a desperate attempt to fill my time. It failed - Cosham Park is not worth the effort (although the quality of the bowling greens is impressive - they make my lawns look like roughly-ploughed fields).

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Olympic Games

Susie and I have been watching the synchronized diving this morning - not a sport in which we we would normally me interested but the progress of Team GB to the finals made it strangely compulsive.

They didn't win, unfortunately, but they look good for London in 2012 and I think we will be watching again in four years time.

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Depeche Mode Bar

Susie and I went at the weekend to one of the two Depeche Mode bars on Tallinn and very strange it was too (although also strangely entertaining). We arribed a bit too early in the evening so the atmosphere was a little slow but it picked up as the evening went on - worth a look if you are in town.

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Drills and Walls

Our neighbours are carrying out what sound like major structural changes to our office building. Exactly what they're doing is unknown but it involves an awful lot of drilling and we have already had to send home the IT team, whose office has become unusable. If this keeps up I might have to work from the apartment tomorrow.

BBC - "Primates Face Extinction"

Has anyone warned Rowan Williams?

Is it 1st April?

The BBC have a story (link) about people who believe that the Earth is flat (they apparently believe that the spherical hypothesis is part of a global conspiracy). I thought at first that this was a spoof report but it appears to be genuine. 

Catching the Wild Sheep

I have finished "The Wild Sheep Chase". Very strange but, I think, worth the effort. I will be buying more of his books which, strangely, are readily available amonst the limited numbers of English-language books in Tallinn.

A Wild Sheep Chase

I am about halfway through "A Wild Sheep Chase" by Haruki Murilami. It's a strange book, a bit like some of Iain Banks' stories where asides and flashbacks with no obvious connection to the main plot nevertheless add depth and present important information. If the second half is as good as the first it will have been well worth the effort.

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Shopping In Tallinn...

... is much the same as in the UK; boring.

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Tallinn Heat

Today Tallinn has been hot, sunny and humid - not at all what one expects of a Baltic city. It was the sort of heat that makes you glad for sudden slight breezes that spring up as you round the corner of a building or the unexpected swaying of a tree that briefly shades you from an unforgiving sun. 

And Tallinn is on its way to becoming a very attrative summer city. Years of decline (some of the city centre buildings are literally falling down) are being slowly reversed as new money pours in and old buildings are renovated. In another decade or so, Tallinn will be a pictureseque city of painted houses and attractive parks. If you have the cash, now might be a good time to get into the property game.

Travelling

Today's travel is by: car from Upton to Birmingham International; train to Euston; tube to Victoria; train to Gatwick Airport; plane to Tallinn Airport; taxi to apartment.

I have not yet reached Gatwick so another seven hours of travelling lies before me.

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Windows

We now have double-glazed units throughout the house, which is a great relief and should make the place a whole lot warmer in the winter. The next job is to sort out the garden and I'm not looking forward to it.

The North

Lincolnshire at the moment, then on to Yorkshire. Back to London tomorrow, then even further north to Tallinn. Home again next weekend.

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Bishops Stortford

For reasons too mundane to list, I am currently stuck in Costa Coffee in Bishops Stortford. It is a grim little town and I will not, deliberately, return. 

Before you ask, the answer is "yes, the town's name is possessive". Annoyingly, the locals do not use an apostrophe. Heathens.

London

I am in London for the day, catching-up on goings-on in the office. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the air-conditioning in the office is turned off and, given that today is about the hottest of the year so far, the office is fairly warm. As soon as I can get back to my air-conditioned train...

At last...

Finally, after considerable anguish, I have an iPhone 3G. Seems to work really well - more comment to follow.

Windows

I am working from home today, partly because I returned from Tallinn last night and I need time to recover and partly because we are having the remainder of our single-glazed windows replaced by a local firm. There are six in total, including a large bay and a door; they have done the other four today (in about five hours) and will return on Monday to do the rest. 

And what a great job they've done! Assuming that the bay and the door are done to the same level of workmanship then I think we are going to be very happy indeed. I may have said this before, but next time we move to a house with single-glazed windows we will get them replaced immediately, not six years after we move in. Bring it on, Winter!

Crackers III - The Final Instalment

PZ Myers has been having problems with his crackers but I think he has now resolved them. Read all about it here: link.

Science-Based Medicine

I am not very keen on "complimentary and alternative medicine" and I will tell anyone who uses them that they are a complete waste of time and money. In many cases, time and money are all that is wasted, but this post tells the tragic story of a young woman who sought CAM treatment for early-stage breast cancer. You can probably guess how it ends.

Skimming through the 600-odd comments provoked by the post, it seems that doctors encounter problems of this sort with depressing regularity. CAM practitioners are the modern equivalent of blood-letters and witchdoctors and they should not be allowed to peddle their rubbish unchallenged. At best, their claims must breach advertising standards; at worst, they kill people.

iPhone Acquisition

I am still sitting in the departure lounge at Tallinn Aiport, trying to download a particularly large PDF, when I find myself browsing other frequently-viewed sites in order to kill time. O2's iPhone availability update page has been a favourite for a couple of weeks now and I have just caught myself searching for stock in towns through which my train passes this evening on the way home, as if there was any chance whatsoever that I could stop, find the store, buy a phone and then still make it home without being killed by the wife.

I think I will have to wait until tomorrow, then head into Fareham or Southampton. More news to follow shortly.

Tallinn Airport - The Return

Did I mention the free Wifi? I have not actually found anywhere in Tallinn that charges for Wifi but it still seems strange to sit in an airport with free (and decently fast) internet access. 

Tallinn Airport

I am sitting in the (post-customs) departure lounge at Tallinn Airport. The building is brand new but the air-conditioning is not working very well and the cafe is rather short of food. Apart from that it is very nice - clean, quiet, spacious, uncrowded.

Depeche Mode

For reasons which are not entirely clear, Tallinn boasts two bars, both run by the same company, dedicated to Depeche Mode (the 1980s synth group from Basildon). These bars apparently play only DM music and feature various items of DM-related memorabilia. Really strange.

Meat of Allah

The BBC, maintaining its reputation for world-class reporting, has an article about a lump of Nigerian beef imprinted with the name of Allah. Slow news day, I guess. 

iTunes

iTunes is starting to annoy me. As a music library it works really well but it keeps installing things that are not readily identifiable and that I do not want or need. Yesterday, while uninstalling an application, I found something called "Bonjour" and, because I knew I had not deliberately installed it, I removed it. It turns out that this is required by iTunes but the uninstaller does not tell you this and now I have to re-install iTunes.

I am also annoyed that there is no way to prevent iTunes installing QuickTime (which I do not use), iPod Service (I do not have an iPod) and a host of other minor programs that sit in memory consuming resource. And why do they offer only an "English (US)" option? Not very impressive.

Walking

Engadget has a story (link) about an exoskeleton designed to help the wheelchair-bound walk. Very neat.

Shepherd's Pie, Tallinn Style

Ok, so a bowl of shepherd's pie in an Irish pub in the middle of Tallinn might sound a little strange but it was actually not too bad and even though it wasn't exactly like the shepherd's pie I make at home it was close enough to function as comfort food.

Sunday Lunch in Tallinn

Once again I am in Molly Malone's, the Irish pub on the main square in Tallinn city centre. This time I'm here for lunch (Shepherd's pie) and I am hoping that the portion will be as large as yesterday's breakfast, which was huge.

Sunday Morning in Tallinn

It is just after ten AM here in Tallinn and I am sitting in a trendy restaurant drinking coffee (I had planned to have breakfast but their kitchen is not opening until 10:30 today).

I had a walk around the town centre before settling here, partly because it is a nice day and I fancied a walk and partly to encourage the muscles strained yesterday playing tennis to start working again. It didn't work and now I ache and I am still hungry so I am going to move on to a different restaurant, one with a working kitchen, and find some food.

New Anglican Bishop

It looks like the Anglican Church in Australia has a sense of humour. Have a look at the photo here and try to spot their newest convert.

Molly Malone's

I have just finished one of the largest breakfasts ever: 2 fried eggs, 3 rashers of bacon (I think, maybe four), mushrooms, tomato, a load of beans and two pieces of toast. Pretty good, although a couple of parts could have been warmer and it wasn't cheap (EEK 75, or £3.75). Nice relaxed atmosphere so I will be back for more food, possibly even tomorrow.

Irish Pubs

This afternoon, needing to get out of the apartment, I have come to Molly Malone's, an Irish Pub in the centre of Tallinn which is, unusually, run by Irishmen. An all-day breakfast has been ordered and, hopefully, I will shake off the post-tennis headache I have acquired.

Tennis

I played tennis this morning with a couple of guys from work. Great fun, although 2 hours is probably too long, especially as the sun was out for the entire time. I can't remember exactly when I last played, but I think it was 1989 or 1990. One of my opponents today would barely have been able to hold a racket at the time I last played, which makes me feel rather old.

iPhones

I tried to buy an iPhone last Friday but things did not go entirely to plan.

• On Friday, the O2 store in Fareham had sold their allocation hours before I arrived.
• On Saturday, the Southampton Apple Store had loads of iPhones but they were not able to upgrade existing O2 customers.
  
• CarphoneWarehouse had access to O2's upgrade system but no phones; they offered to order an 8Gb phone but without actually being able to give me a delivery date.

The O2 website suggests that new stocks are now in store with more arrive next Friday but their online upgrade system is offline at the moment. As I am in Estonia, there is a certain appeal to upgrading online and having the phone delivered to me at home next week but it looks like I will just have to struggle into town to pick one up in store. More news when/if I manage to obtain one.

Knives

The Prime Minister is quoted today on the BBC website (link):

"We will do everything in our power to prevent people having knives."

I guess that's the end of cooking as we know it - we will only be allowed safety blades and potato peelers in future. Who says the Government doesn't care?

New Solar Power Stuff

Developments in solar power continue apace and it is, I suspect, only a matter of time before we see the widespread introduction of domestic solar panels. The Economist has details (link) of a new technology that improves panel efficiency - worth a look.

Return of the Crackers

In a minor update to the post last week about PZ Myers and the cracker controversy ("One of our Crackers is Missing"), here is a quote from the website of the Catholic League (an American religious organisation operating from the headquarters of the Archdiocese of New York) written by their President, William Donohue, in response to Prof. Myers' blog:

“It is hard to think of anything more vile than to intentionally desecrate the Body of Christ. We look to those who have oversight responsibility to act quickly and decisively.”

Full press release is here: http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1459

I can think of several things more vile than "desecrating" a cracker and, of course, there is no way that the cracker can literally be transformed into the Body of Christ but how cool would it be to test the Resurrection Hypothesis? All we need to do is:

• Obtain consecrated biscuit ("The Body of Christ"),
• Pulverise biscuit, extract DNA of Jesus,
• Clone Jesus II using a extracted DNA and allow to mature for about 33 years,
• Take Jesus II to Israel and nail him to a tree,
  
• Seal corpse of Jesus II in a cave and wait.
  

What else might Jesus II do for us? How about:

• Heal the sick - there are plenty of people who cannot yet be cured by modern medicine and just think of the savings - the NHS could balance its budget in weeks!
  
• Feed Africa - give him a loaf, a fish and a major food distribution organisation and Bob's your uncle!
• Solve Global Warming - I'm not sure how, but Jesus II would have the answer.
  
• Peace in the Middle East - a long shot, even for Jesus II, but you never know.

This might be too much to ask of one man/God but why limit ourselves to only one? We can grow loads of Clones and spread them liberally around the world. Do you have a problem that needs a divine solution? Order your Jesus Clone over the internet, PayPal accepted, delivery in 25-30 years.

This is a brilliant idea and a fantastic business opportunity (maybe I should pitch it to Steve Jobs - would he go for an iJesus, I wonder?) and I would be on it like a shot if it were not for a couple of minor problems. Once I have worked through those, it's all systems go!

Estonian Air

I turned up at Gatwick yesterday at about 16:20 to take my regular flight to Tallinn only to discover that they had hugely overbooked the flight. About 20 passengers at the back of the queue, myself included, did not get a seat. The compensation (400 Euros, which I don't have in my sweaty paws yet) makes up for it and I am booked on this afternoon's flight, but it is all a bit of a pain.

One of our Crackers is Missing

Student kidnaps cracker - receives death threats!

This is not a joke - get the details here.

What we know about the Origins of Life

“And God said, let the NA precursors link together into a short noncoding kinetically favored chain and pseudoreplicate approximately statistically after their kind”

There's a good explanation of the current understanding of the Origin of Life here at The Panda's Thumb. It seems we know an awful lot more than I thought we knew.

American Torture Techniques

There have been lots of stories about the use of torture by the US and the defence has been that these practices are either vital for national security (which is clearly laughable) or not actually torture. One of these "questioning techniques" is Waterboarding and you can get a detailed description here with a video of the author (Christopher Hitchens) undergoing the process - his first-hand account makes unpleasant reading.

Tallinn for Beginners

I have been meaning to write some notes on Tallinn for a while but, what with one thing and another, it has taken until now to get round to it. Here they are, in no particular order.

Suitcases - Tallinn is a medieval city with more than it's fair share of cobbled streets. If you favour one of those suitcases that trundles around on little wheels then prepare for a frustrating experience as your luggage jumps and dances across the cobbles. A rucksack is a much more practical option unless you confine your bag-towing to the business district and the five yards between your taxi and your hotel. If you are staying in the Old Town, leave the wheeled case at home.

Taxis - Most of the taxi drivers in Tallinn are decent upright chaps who wouldn't dream of taking advantage of a disoriented tourist. The rest are mercenary fiends who will, if you let them, fleece you for as much as they can get. Taxis in Tallinn can charge whatever they like (no central price control) so here are a few pointers to help you avoid the fiends:

• All taxis have to display their rates, normally on the rear passenger window. If there are no rates displayed, don't get it.
• For daytime travel, you should pay something in the region of 34-55 EEK when the meter starts and around 9 EEK for each kilometre. Disreputable taxi drivers might charge 3-5 times as much.
• Taxis have meters mounted on their dashboards. If you choose a cab without a meter, or if the meter is obscured or if it shows anything more than 55 EEK when you get in, get out again.
• The best place to pick up reputable taxis is the airport, followed by the ranks outside the larger hotels and shopping centres. Taxis waiting at street corners, particularly if they are old Mercedes, are likely to be dodgy.
• Airport to town centre is about EEK 75 - EEK 100 depending on time of day, traffic etc.
• Taxis with company livery or logos tend to be more reputable. Avoid cars that are only labelled "Takso" (Taxi) or that are labelled "Tourist Taxi".

Trams - Tallinn has a network of Soviet-era trams that can, for the adventurous tourist, be a useful form of transport. Tickets (buy them in books of 10 from any roadside kiosk) cost EEK 9 each and are good for a single journey; jump on the tram, punch your ticket and ride for as long as you can stand it.

The trams are slow, noisy, uncomfortable, smelly and hot (a bit like the Northern Line) but they also run fairly regularly and they're very cheap. Worth a go.

Food - Tallinn is awash with restaurants offering everything from African to American "cuisine". The problem is that the food is often not all that good and the service is likely to be lacklustre, at best. That said, there are some really great restaurants with good service in Tallinn, you just need to know where to look. A few hints:

• Bocca - Good Italian food, nice atmosphere, not cheap.
• Pegasus - Not bad but I've only eaten breakfast there. Tends to be better on weekdays.
  
• Controvento - Good Italian food, some atmosphere (not as good as Bocca), moderate.
• African Kitchen - Nice, good atmosphere, helps if you like Antelope or Camel (although they also serve chicken, beef etc.).
  
• Pepper Sack - Dreadful medieval theme restaurant. Avoid, unless you want something to laugh about later.

In general, you should be fairly safe eating out in Tallinn, but avoid anywhere with a menu in Finnish and take care when assuming that you know what you're getting - you should expect some degree of translation inaccuracy as well as cultural differences in common definitions. Be warned!

Shopping - There are three main types of shop in Tallinn:

1. Large Western Shopping Centres - there are several of these dotted around but the one you are most likely to find is Viru Keskus in the business district, just outside the old town. The range of goods on offer is pretty much what you would expect to find in the UK and prices are also broadly similar.
2. Tourist Shops - there are huge numbers of souvenir and antique shops selling an astonishing range of rubbish. Entertaining, but it helps if you like amber.
3. Local Markets - on the edge of the Old Town you will find a number of open air markets where locals buy clothes, bric-a-brac and various other everyday items. Interesting, but you probably will not want to buy anything.

The shopping streets in the Old Town will be fairly familiar to visitors from the UK, although most of the shop names will be new.

General Survival Tips

• Get your Estonian currency from a local ATM rather than at the airport in the UK - you will get a much better rate.
• If you need a hotel, the Swissotel Tallinn is the best in the city and is not extortionately expensive.
  
• Some shops take only Estonian credit cards - check for the normal symbols on the door to avoid embarrassment.
• Tram and train tracks run freely across and alongside roads - take care when crossing because even a slow-moving tram can do a lot of damage to an unwary tourist.
• Spirits are served in measures of 40ml, 60% larger than standard UK shots.
• Wireless internet access is available pretty much everywhere, free of charge.

Windows Mobile

One thing that annoys me about the browser in Windows Mobile (IE) is that it doesn't work with all sites so, for example, I can't login to Blogger while on the move. I'm not sure exactly why this is but it is rather annoying, especially as other Google sites work brilliantly from my phone.

Gatwick and Tallinn

I am at Gatwick again to fly back to Tallinn for another 10 days of fun and partying.

I have one major objective for this trip - to list and prioritise the changes that I need to make before my work here can be said to be done. I can then answer the really important question - how long do I have to keep doing this?

Rain

It has been raining here in Tallinn for several days. Showers of rain are punctuated by heavy downpours and extended periods of overcast chill. I can't wait to go home, where the weather is predictable and reliable.

Closed

Estonia is essentially closed today (as it was yesterday) for Jaanipäev, the celebration of Midsummer and an excuse for four days of drinking and bonfire-leaping. The office is running on a skeleton crew (about five people) and it is quieter than the grave.

The big worry is that the only place open for dinner tonight might be one of the tourist traps into which I was suckered yesterday. The mere thought of this is enough to make strong men quiver.

Estonian Food Odyssey

My Estonian food odyssey as reached a new low. Having survived herring lasagne and last night's antelope stew, I have been forced by the almost complete holiday shutdown to dine at Pepper Sack, a medieval-themed restaurant catering primarily for Finnish tourists.

The first course, a sort of deep-fried dumpling with sour creams, is pretty awful. Maybe the main course will be better.

Update (20:10) - main course barely edible. Maybe I should have gone for a "Palatable Wok Dish" but I can't believe it would have been any better. I am not staying for dessert.

More Estonian Food

I hiked out to the large shopping centre near Tallinn Airport this morning to see what it was like. As expected, it is pretty much like any other large shopping centre but with the addition of a hunting shop (selling a range of knives, rifles and pistols and associated paraphernalia) which seems very strange.

As if to emphasise that unfamiliar things can lurk within a seemingly familiar setting, I thought I should mention the pain-au-chocolat I had for breakfast, although that name isn't entirely correct; it looked like a normal chocolate pastry, but it was stuffed with an unknown mush which could have been apple or cheese or any one of a dozen other substances. Pain-au-chocolat with an Estonian twist. You've got to watch out for these things...

Estonian Food

I've learnt a few things about Estonia in recent weeks, one being that restaurants in Tallinn tend towards the bizarre. In the last few weeks I've eaten Medieval Pork (overcooked, boring, piggy), herring lasagne (strange, fishy, not for the faint of heart), chilli sorbet (the hottest frozen desert ever), rhubarb cake (indescribable), herring salad (a little like the lasagne, but cold), hare's liver (strongly flavoured, small and tough), layered chicken salad (lettuce, grated cheese and mayonnaise) and croissants (heavy, dense and potentially dangerous if eaten).

I think it is fair to say that Estonian food is an experience, but it is not necessarily one that I would recommend. Especially the herring lasagne.

Norwegian Blue

News from Bristol about the legendary Norwegian Blue Parrot - link.

More on Tallinn

Just back from Tallinn (Friday night) after a four-day trip. One of the problems with being away from the wife is that I sleep less because I tend to stay up late reading or working (not watching TV - the apartment I've been using does not have one). That, coupled with early mornings, hard work and tiring flights mean that by the weekend I'm pretty much dead on my feet and this morning I've barely been able to stand on the treadmill at the gym.

Dates of future Tallinn trips, plus a brief "How to survive Tallinn" guide are planned for future posts, possibly tomorrow.

Blue Skies

Tallinn this morning is bright, sunny and cold. I am walking around without a coat and it isn't too bad, but everybody else ha a winter coat and I think they're on the money.

I am now in a warm restaurant (Pegasus) for breakfast of porridge and coffee.

Flying

Flying, if you can forget the horrors of an English airport, can be curiously relaxing. At present I am cruising to Tallinn above a calm sea with a beautiful sunset to watch and nothing to do but doze (my laptop is, through a stroke of luck, out of reach in an overhead locker).

Tallinn is an almost ideal flight destination because a) the terminal is brand new and efficient, b) the airport is a very short taxi ride from the city centre, and c) everyone speaks English. If the flight times were better (the plane from Gatwick lands at 23:00) it would be perfect.

Vaccinations

Two people this weekend (a public health expert and a Labour MP) have suggested that childhood vaccinations should be more strongly encouraged by the Government, either through the school or benefits systems. The resulting discussion on the BBC's comment board (link) displays an astonishing degree of ignorance about vaccines, their safety and their effectiveness (skim the first few entries and you'll see what I mean).

MMR is mentioned, of course, because the UK media persuaded significant numbers of people that it isn't safe (it is, of course, and failure to immunise is likely to kill 50-100 children this year because they weren't immunised - source) which is rather inconvenient, because Measles is a pretty impressive illness (source):

• It is highly contagious—90% of people without immunity sharing a house with an infected person will catch it,
  
• Infected people remain contagious from the appearance of the first symptoms until 3–5 days after the rash appears,
• In roughly the last 150 years, measles has been estimated to have killed about 200 million people worldwide (source),
• Vaccination programmes have reduced the Measles death toll from 873,000 per year in 1999 to 530,000 per year in 2003,
• Complications with measles are relatively common, ranging from relatively mild and less serious diarrhea, to pneumonia and encephalitis (subacute sclerosing panencephalitis), corneal ulceration leading to corneal scarring.

There are people on the BBC forum claiming that vaccines do not work (they haven't heard of smallpox, one imagines), that they are contaminated with toxins and mercury (how would this benefit the drug companies?), that they cause Autism (no evidence for this whatsoever), that they are a tool of the Government to suppress the people (who makes up this stuff?) and that natural immunity to disease can be conferred by breast-feeding (because there were no viral epidemics before the rise of milk powder).

The most worrying thing about the suggestion of compulsory vaccination is not the suggestion itself but the amazing ignorance of some of the people ranting against it. Disregarding the moral questions, it would clearly be advantageous to the health of the species to eliminate some of these viruses and many people would also clearly benefit from a beginners course in biology, or history.

Measles is small beer compared to smallpox, the only human-infectious disease eradicated so far. As recently as 1967 smallpox killed 2 million people. Since then, it has been eradicated by a wide-ranging programme of vaccination and we could do the same for measles if ill-educated, superstitious and stupid people could somehow be encouraged to immunise their children.

Plans

London this week, Tallinn next. Tallinn has some good points (10 minutes to get to work rather than 2 hours) but it is lonely, unfamiliar and fairly small. Speaking no Estonian forces me to rely on the locals speaking English but so far this hasn't been a problem - even taxi drivers want to practice.

Dilemma Resolved

Coffee.

Tallinn

I have a dilemma. I'm in a cafe in central Tallinn and I've just had lunch and coffee. Question - should I have another coffee or move on to beer? It is, after all, 16:30 here...

Teachers

The teachers are striking again, but this year they've chosen to march along Aldwych and Strand, a route that takes them past our office twice. I wouldn't normally object (actually that's not entirely true), but they were very noisy, they left much of their literature on the streets and they blocked the roads. They are now heading to Westminster after a helpful policeman pointed them in the right direction.

Legal Developments

The BBC is running a story about a change to the law that will, hopefully, force people to justify their spiritual claims (link):

"A change in the law could mean mediums, psychics and healers face prosecution if they cannot justify their claims."

I like the idea of being able to sue mind-readers or faith healers when they fail to deliver - maybe it will encourage their punters to ask questions rather than blindly to accept their statements as fact.

The next question is "why limit the law to mediums, psychics and healers?" Our local Anglican church runs regular poster campaigns containing impressive, and unsubstantiated, claims about their ability to save people and it would be interesting to see these claims challenged in court, I think.

Quote of the day

From the biggest selling novel of all time, The Bible:

If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.

That is from Deuteronomy, Chapter 25, verses 11 and 12 and it sounds pretty reasonable to me. Here is another commandment that is relatively easy to follow:

You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Same chapter, verse 4. Whoever said that the Bible contained no wisdom?

It snowed today for the first time this year and within an hour we had around two inches of the white stuff. Driving was fun, but I made it out to the local woods (near Titchfield) to take a few photos.

Sand

Rumours abound that Red Ken is to give Londoners a beach on the Embankment in August 2010, an idea copied from Paris. Do we really need it? Is it worth closing the Embankment and diverting 4 lanes of traffic onto the already congested Strand? Who knows?

Weirdos in the Philippines

BBC News carries a story (link) about a warning issued in the Philippines to the effect that participating in Easter crucifixion rituals is potentially dangerous. I don't really understand these religious types, particularly when they're nailing themselves to crosses. Does it achieve anything useful? Didn't Jesus have himself executed to cleanse us of our sins and to obviate the need for anyone else to be crucified?

I suspect I've missed something important, but it looks like a pretty stupid activity to me.

Firefox 3

I have been playing with the fourth Beta release of Firefox 3 (link) and so far it has proved itself a worthy evolutionary advance over Firefox 2. I haven't spotted any hugely important new features (although there are apparently lots of new technologies waiting to be exploited) but it is fast, stable, easy to use and attractive. Worth considering, if you are currently using Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7.

BBC Wheat Growing

The BBC, always at the cutting edge of journalism, has an article on their website about growing wheat in your back garden. Sounds fun, if you enjoy medieval toil but I will be sticking with Ocado.

UK Government's Petitions

Another worthy petition, this time to save the UK's Radio Astronomy research facilities and programmes. If you would like your views ignored at the highest level of Government, please sign the petition.

Today's Quote of the Day

From the Muppet Show:

Statler: "Wake up, you old fool, you slept through the show."
Waldorf: "Who's a fool? You watched it."

Dr Williams, Again

Dr Williams has published the text of his controversial speech on "Civil and Religious Law in England: a Religious Perspective" (you can find it here and I don't recommend that you try it.). It's very boring and I didn't manage to finish it.

Sea Power

Tidal power, which people in Bristol were seriously discussing as "the next big thing" in 1993 when I was at university, is starting to gain a little traction. Here is one story (link) of a small-scale project which should be up and running fairly soon.

Another Comment on Sharia Law

The BBC website is gathering opinions from a range of people (link) and, predictably, they are polarised into muslim and non-muslim. Here is the first quote on the page from Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain:

"We're looking at a very small aspect of Sharia for Muslim families when they choose to be governed with regards to their marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children and so forth.

"We also have other examples... in our high streets we have compliant financial packages which have benefited our country's economy tremendously, so there is scope here for debate.

"It is very complex, it is not as straightforward as saying that we will have a system [in Britain]. We do not wish to see a parallel system or a separate system of judiciary for Muslims.

"We've seen examples of this in Ontario in Canada and in Singapore, where systems have worked very well."

Mr Mogra doesn't list all the areas he would like covered by Sharia Law but the sections pertaining to "marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody of children" are not, as he claims, a small part of the law - they are large, complicated areas of law built up over a very long period where even small changes might have large ramifications for many people. They certainly are not areas where different sections of the population can have different sets of rights and responsibilities.

Maybe Mr Mogra and Dr Williams would like to get together and decide which elements of Sharia Law they would like to introduce and produce between them a list of the changes they would make. It is clearly sensible to improve our current system - I wonder what they'll be able to suggest?

Sharia Law

I can't help thinking that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt. Rev. Rowan Williams, is deliberately courting controversy when he wades into a debate on the secular legal system (link) with comments of a strictly religious nature. He holds doctorates in Philosophy and Divinity (although exactly what constitutes original research in Divinity is unclear) so he clearly isn't a stupid man, but his apparent assertion that the country needs one law for muslims and another law for everyone else is not a very smart move.

I wonder what else he would propose, if he continued this line of thinking - laws based on race, age, gender or other loose groupings? How about different marital laws for people who want to follow different laws on marriage? Or maybe the rich and the poor should be allowed different legal systems? I don't believe I should have to pay as much tax as I do - can I have my own legal system please? I wonder if Dr Williams would require people to register their beliefs with the Government so that the correct set of legal institutions could be used when they have a problem or complaint.

Ludicrous. There are very good reasons for having a single, unified set of laws that apply equally to all citizens, and he has yet to advance any evidence that his suggestions would yield the benefits he is suggesting.

Update - Doctor of Divinity is apparently an honourary degree so no research is required. Makes it pretty worthless, I suspect.

UK Physics

It is no real surprise that the UK’s physics research community is facing huge funding cuts after the recent Government review but the scale of the cuts and the breadth of the projects affected has sparked considerable anger. A new petition protesting the cuts has been created on the Downing Street website (link) and has already attracted more than 15,000 signatures.

Women's Rights

I've been drafting this post for ages (well, since I read the article linked below, at any rate). I noticed it this evening, sitting as a draft in my post list and thought "I'll finish it off and get it posted" but when I opened it I found that only a title existed.

I can't be bothered to write much more, so here's a link (Yemen Times). Read the article. It is not, as far as I can tell, satirical.

Saturday Morning Gym

The gym is always busy in January as people try to keep New Year's Resolutions to get fit, lose weight or just use the gym membership they've been paying for for the last six months. By the third week in January the enthusiasm is fading and the changing rooms are a bit emptier, the treadmills a little less over-used.

My advice is to forget the resolutions and simply to try to enjoy the exercise; there's no point forcing yourself to do something unpleasant but if you find activities that you enjoy and then set milestones and targets so you have something to aim for then it gets much easier to drag yourself out of bed for early morning exercise.

That's my handy hint for the day.

Feynman Quotes

No excuse is needed for a quote from Richard Feynman; I saw this one this morning:

“The gravitational force is weak,” he said at one conference, introducing his work on quantizing gravity. “In fact, it’s *damned* weak.” At that instant a loudspeaker demonically broke loose from the ceiling and crashed to the floor. Feynman barely hesitated: “Weak — but not negligible.”

Flights

Susie and I have booked flights to Edinburgh in February to visit our friends Cathy and Hamish. Nothing controversial there - FlyBe from Southampton Airport run a fast, easy and relatively cheap. We did consider the train, but life is just too short (unlike the train journey, which takes eight and a half hours) and even when FlyBe started racking up extra charges (bags, paying by credit card, space for both legs, booking a seat etc.) at the end of the booking process the train did not become any more attractive.

I did have a look at British Airways because they fly the same route and sometimes try to compete on price. Not this time though - FlyBe's final price of £197 (1 bag, no seat booking, credit card payment charge, only 1 leg per passenger) was easily surpassed by British Airways' £395 (that is not a typo). British Airways did not offer better flight times, either; nor was the plane better, or, in fact, different so we could have paid an extra £200 for exactly the same product. Rip off?

A Universal Flu Vaccine

The BBC have a story (link) about successful first trials of a universal flu vaccine. Very clever, very interesting.

Charts Galore

The Economist ran an article about graphical representations of data (link) which I found passably interesting. The most horrible thing was the chart of Napoleon's attack on Moscow in 1812 (link to chart) which outlines the almost complete destruction of the Grand Army.