Despite the optimisim of previous posts (for example http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2006/02/12/css-oddnes-solved/ ) it seems the almost random effects of the CSS / XHTML here are continuing to go all over the place. Sadly, I still have no idea why this is happening or what can be done about it.

I think a new theme is called for.

Judging from the news headlines, it seems that the ID card bill has been passed by the house of commons. Quote from BBC website:

Ministers have won a Commons vote making it compulsory for people to be given ID cards – and put on a register – when they apply for passports.

Well, it seems like a back door attack on what was once considered a “right” of the British People. Oddly I fail to see how this would make anyone in the country any safer? Would it have prevented the London bombings in July? Did we need these measures to prevent the IRA (were they even seriously considered even when the IRA mortared 10 Downing Street?)?

Interestingly, lots of other countries do have compulsory ID cards – Spain for example – and has it shown any effect in reducing identity theft of preventing terrorist attacks?

I suspect the answer is no.

Sadly, as previously mentioned, we are in a brave new world now. With each passing month there are new laws (no religious jokes for example) which limit our ability to express ourselves (not really a “right” as we dont have a bill of rights per se in the UK)

Looks like it could be time to emigrate.

(To steal a good phrase from Trevor Phillips)

The hopes that the common sense of the lords might get some sanity restored to the mad rush towards making 1984 look like Brave New World are dashed again I see

Well, it looks like the nutcases have finally taken over the asylum. Headlines from the BBC announce “MPs back ID cards passports plan” (quote taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4707608.stm, updated 2018hrs, visited 2037 hrs today).

Truly sad news.

I see that Compuskills has extended its special offer until April. http://www.compuskills.co.uk/

I see on Steve Wozniak’s site that there are a few quick-time movies of him riding a Segway.  It looks like a lawn-mower. Is it some abstract joke or is he really showing off  a lawn-mower scooter combo?

Well, it starts today on Sky (which I dont have and wont get…) so it seems like I am going to have to wait for the boxed DVD set (again). Feel free to let me know how it goes 🙂

Well, as previously mentioned (http://www.whydontyou.org.uk/blog/2006/02/11/css-oddity/) there seemed to be a few problems with how the stylesheet for this blog actually presented the pages.

As CSS seems to be the bane of my life, I was resolved to trying various tricks and hack to get it working but no matter what, it always seemed to be a case of working in either IE or FireFox (never both, and rarely FireFox…) which was annoying to say the least. Continue reading →

Does anybody else think that killing off birds because of “bird flu” is going to be the next supposedly environmentally friendly thing to happen?

There are already much less pigeons in this city than there were. No one is supposed to like pigeons or care what happens to them because they crap on public buildings. The fact that we only have so many pigeons in the cities because we needed them to carry messages doesn’t seem to make any difference. They are supposed to be disease-ridden and, therefore, the enemy.

Now everyone is getting terrified of bird flu, what odds would you give for the survival of  bird species? Agencies that are supposed to protect the environment will have reasons that seem good to them to “cull” – kill off – even more of the few wild creatures that still share our environment.  What an incredibly dumb species we are.

I am not sure why, but the CSS for this blog seems to have grown a mind of its own. In the two weeks I have been away something has changed and now (in firefox) it wont show the background colour in the main page (but will on message pages) and in IE, the menu bars on the right fall to the bottom of the page.

Very odd and may result in a new theme soon.

http://fantomaster.com/fantomNews/archives/2005/05/04/google-the-coming-out-of-a-datascraper-spook/ has a piece that suggests that Google’s accelerator is going well over the top in the information it collects.

According to fantom, the Web Accelerator is “arguably the most audacious and blatant piece of spyware ever visited upon the global Web.”  Setting aside the point that “arguably” anything can be considered anything, it’s worth a read.

No surprises there. It’s already amazing how many organisations can make free with our telecoms. Also, how open they are to intrusions by anyone.

I woke up yesterday to find that MSN messenger had been receiving and sending messages to other people on my contact list without me having any input into it at all. Nor at least one of the other people on my contact list. Receiving is bad enough, but to see that I had apparently written MSN messages when my mouse wasn’t even in the USB port………

Does this mean that people can spoof MSN Messenger accounts now?

I did some investigating on two of the PCS involved and, using SpyBot Search and Destroy (very useful tool), I found a hidden redirect on one of them. I would post the redirect IP here except I suspect the owner of that PC has no more relation to the process than I have.I will investigate and post results on sci-tech, to follow on from what I wrote as a Newb’s guide to malware. http://www.sci-tech.co.uk/mtv1.php

 

Impressed that another admin managed to phone in a post (putting me in mind of the phrase about half-hearted actors phoning in a performance).

And even add a picture.

After constantly boring everyone (i.e. people who haven’t got the obscure Sky channel that the Wire is on in England) about how great the Wire is, I was gratified to see the Guardian’s TV guide item “Call the Cops” by Jim Shelley (4 Feb 2006).

Shelley describes the Wire as “the greatest show in the history of television.” This might seem a bit excessive but I cannot think of any tv series, let alone a tv cop series, that has ever come close to it. As far as I am concerned, the point cannot be disputed.

Shelley talks about the way that the series swings wildly from one focus to another, killing off major characters, demolishing the central location, and so on. He says “It’s a sign of the Wire’s genius that all of this has only made it better. For a start you have no idea what’s going to happen next. The characters are always adapting, developing. Mostly though, the Wire’s greatest attributes are the characterisation, the acting and the dialogue.”

In his Wire eulogies, Jim Shelley always prints snatches of the dialogue. This sometimes looks a bit lame out of context and sometimes I’d quarrel with his choices, but, the Wire has so much in it, at so many levels, that anyone can find something that seems totally brilliant to them.

Advice for watching The Wire:

1. don’t start in the middle of a series. You have to watch from the beginning of Series One to watch the situations and characters develop so that you are aware when characters and plot suddenly overturn your expectations.
2. try to get a whole series at once – dvd – so you can follow a few episodes at a time rather than watching in bits
3. resist the temptation to repeat dialogue and storylines to everybody you know. They aren’t interested. Form a support group and share with your fellow devotees instead.

Congratulate Jack Booth on his footballing success – as shown in Liverpool Echo website and in the Echo on an ongoing basis it seems. (See http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0200sport/0250amateurfooty/tm_objectid=16595390&method=full&siteid=50061-name_page.html for latest triumph- Derby Double for Brilliant Booth)

And it’s got good pictures of him in the double page spread of the print Echo.

Jack has also got a contract with Preston for when he’s old enough to leave school, but he’s got an injury at the moment, which we hope is sorted for his next match.