If you're after information about atheism or responses to pro-God arguments, check out the Iron Chariots wiki.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Climate Data from the Met Office
Are you still sceptical about climate change? Do you question the science? Well one you can check for yourself because the Met Office has released the raw data.
Land surface climate station records - Met Office
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/land-and-atmosphere/surface-station-records
Article: $8 Million iPad 2 Features Diamonds, Dinosaur Bone
If you've got more money than sense, this might appeal to you.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Just checked the in-flight map thing...
...and it looks like we are somewhere over Ukraine, possibly western Russia (the borders are not marked and I can't tell exactly where the plane is). Can't wait to get home, see the wife, have a decent meal (without Vodka) and sleep for about three days.
Why living seas need whales
Found this in New Scientist. Very interesting, but also a little scary; every time I read something like this I can't help but be astonished at the unexpected consequences (reduce levels of sea-life) of simple human actions (hunting whales). One good point is that hunting whales isn't at all necessary, so although reversing the observed trend Might be difficult it is at least easy to stop it getting any worse (if we can just persuade the whale-hunting nations to stop).
Informative quote:
"Some changes in marine ecosystems that have been attributed to physical causes may, in fact, be a result of fishing and hunting."
Vital giants: Why living seas need whales - life - 12 July 2011 - New Scientist
BMI and snacks
Just eaten BMI's lunchtime snack - mozzarella and tomato sandwich with heavy pesto - and it wasn't actually too bad even though it had been chilled to within an inch of it's life. You can tell that the flight is dragging, can't you?
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
McDonald’s Inadvertently Endorses A Mac To All Their Customers [Humor] | Cult of Mac
Picked this up from Cult of Mac (can't wait for HTML emails in iOS 5.0 so that I can create proper links). It's an amusing illustration of the advantages of Apple's "it just works" philosophy. Source: http://www.cultofmac.com/mcdonalds-inadvertently-endorses-a-mac-to-all-their-... 
BMI's Cheese-like Product
So I'm flying with BMI to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and they've just served
"lunch". Included is a packet of alleged cheese.
be a bit dodgy; either it's an unfortunate mistranslation or a
disturbingly accurate description and I'm wary of opening the packet
to find out which.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Pig in bread
After nine months in Dulwich I finally made it to the roast pig stall in Northcross Road Market and bought one of their pig sandwiches. Spit-roast pork is one of life's delicacies, although crackling has altogether too much tooth-breaking character for my tastes, and being smeared with apple sauce and stuffed in a roll is a fine end for a noble beast. Recommended.
Skypump is a Wind and Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle Charger!
Can't see this working in cities (not enough reliable wind) but it looks like a good idea for rural areas where they don't use electric cars. Hmm.
BREAKING: The New Sanya Skypump is a Wind and Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle Charger!
http://inhabitat.com/breaking-the-new-sanya-skypump-is-a-wind-and-solar-powered-ev-charger/
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Upgrade to Lion
It's a strange title for a post because upgrading to a cat isn't really a natural operation. Upgrading to any top predator, for that matter, is pretty unusual. Actually, now I come to think about it, there aren't a whole lot of animals where the phrase "Upgrade to random animal" can be used in everyday conversation.
Lion, of course, is Apple's latest incarnation of their operating system and, after launching only this morning, they've shipped a million copies already. That's pretty impressive, both technically (their servers appear to have delivered more than 4,000,000,000 Mb of data in a single day) and commercially (loads of new features, granted, but operating systems aren't exactly sexy). I downloaded first thing this morning and the installation went perfectly - by far the fastest and most straightforward OS upgrade I've ever done.
Most noticeable change so far (I'm not really a power-user) is the "natural scrolling", which reverses the scroll direction of the trackpad. Sounds like a bad idea, I know, but I think I really like it. There are other changes of course (grey icons, absence of scroll bars and full-screen applications, for example) but the scrolling is the most obvious because you realy can't help noticing it. All good so far; if you're wondering whether to upgrade or not, my advice would be to go for it.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson quits
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has announced his resignation following the phone hacking scandal.
via bbc.co.uk
Wow. This scandal just keeps getting bigger. Who's next, I wonder?
Thursday, July 14, 2011
FBI to open 9/11 victims 'phone-hacking' investigation
The FBI is investigating reports that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation sought to hack the phones of victims of the 9/11 attacks.
via bbc.co.uk
Things just keep getting worse for News International.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The First Zombie-Proof House
This is basically a modern family house that converts into a castle. Sounds a bit mad and I can't really see the appeal (would you want to live without windows?) but I guess anyone worried about zombies or burglars will love it.
The First Zombie-Proof House - All That Is Interesting
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/post/4956385434/the-first-zombie-proof-house
Fusion power taking a step closer?
Maybe. If we're lucky. $30bn to build the first plant doesn't sound too bad given what we've recently spent on banks and the like.
Infinite Clean Energy Just Decades Away? Plans Laid for the First Fusion Reactor
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/infinite-clean-energy-20-years-away-plains-first-fusion-reactor.php?campaign=th_rss
Thursday, July 07, 2011
God Collar by Marcus Brigstocke
Marcus Brigstocke's new book, God Collar, is worth a look if you are a fan of his style of comedy. It's liberally sprinkled with entertaining bits like this passage, where he's talking about reading all the British newspapers everyday:
I read the papers so i know what's going on for work - not because I hate myself and can't be bothered to self-harm properly.
Nice.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Hugh Grant and the Phone Hacking Scandal
Hugh Grant as an undercover investigative reporter? It sounds like the plot of a film but it turns out to be a description of how Hugh Grant helped break the News of the World phone hacking story. Assuming the account is true the hacking was both more widespread and more serious than we had previously thought. A full public enquiry now seems to be the best way to settle the affair and to uncover exactly what has been going on.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Excel clipboard can't be emptied
If you use Excel, the following cryptic and unhelpful message that pops up when you try to paste something into a cell is ridiculously annoying:
The clipboard cannot be emptied. Another program might be using the clipboard.
Exactly why this happens is not clear but the cause appears to be the toolbars that Skype adds to Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome (more details here). Disabling the (apparently fairly useless) toolbars appears to fix the problem. Top tip.
Hackers claim Fox News' Twitter account, report fake Obama shooting
Saw this news on TNW and, sure enough, it looks like one of Fox News' Twitter accounts has been hacked.
Hackers claim Fox News' Twitter account, report fake Obama shooting
http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/07/04/hackers-claim-fox-news-twitter-account-report-fake-obama-shooting/
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Call for Chris Huhne to resign over Fukushima emails
Th irony of this is that nuclear power, even after Fukushima, remains extremely safe and the only realistic option for reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. Some might see it as "manipulation" to emphasise the safety records of the industry or to try to calm the agitation of the press, but it really isn't. The one thing we really don't need is a knee-jerk reaction that closes or ends or nuclear programme; that would be a true disaster.
Call for Chris Huhne to resign over Fukushima emails
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/01/huhne-fukushima-emails-criticism?CMP=twt_fd(Sent from Flipboard)
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