Freak weather

I don’t have a category for freak weather…

clipped from news.nationalgeographic.com Strange Winter-Tornadoes Tear Through Midwest, Kill One A freak cluster of tornadoes raked across an unseasonably warm U.S. Midwest, demolishing houses, knocking railroad cars off their tracks, and even temporarily halting justice in one courthouse. Record temperatures were reported across much of the country Monday, and storms continued to pummel the nation’s midsection as darkness fell. More warmth and storms were in store for Tuesday

Global warming

I love it when science gets challenged, it all comes down to being a Fortean acolyte. But it still won’t stop me believing that a future world needs to use its resources with more thought, that politicians are a danger to the environment, that all taxis need to by hybrid, the future of travel is by rail and all cell phones should have built in solar panels

clipped from www.newstatesman.com Has global warming stopped? ‘The fact is that the global temperature of 2007 is statistically the same as 2006 and every year since 2001′ Global warming stopped? Surely not. What heresy is this? Haven’t we been told that the science of global warming is settled beyond doubt and that all that’s left to the so-called sceptics is the odd errant glacier that refuses to melt? Aren’t we told that if we don’t act now rising temperatures will render most of the surface of the Earth uninhabitable within our lifetimes? But as we digest these apocalyptic comments, read the recent IPCC’s Synthesis report that says climate change could become irreversible. Witness the drama at Bali as news emerges that something is not quite right in the global warming camp. With only few days remaining in 2007, the indications are the global temperature for this year is the same as that for 2006 – there has been no warming over the 12 months.

The truth is in Japan

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk UFOs exist, says Japan official Japan’s chief government spokesman has announced that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) exist. Earlier, in response to a question from an opposition lawmaker, the Japanese government issued a statement saying it could not confirm any cases of UFOs.

Aliens did it

Don’t have a suitable explanation for when things go wrong, or simply can’t get experts to explain thing, then why not blame Aliens. “I was late to work because of Aliens”, “Its raining because of Aliens”, “Aliens made me take the bribe”, etc…

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Aliens were responsible for a series of unexplained fires in fridges, TV’s and mobile phones in an Italian village, according to an Italian government report. Canneto di Caronia, in northern Sicily, drew attention three years ago after residents reported everyday household objects bursting into flames. TV news footage at the time showed electrical appliances as well as cookers, a pile of wedding presents and furniture smouldering.

Shaking up Science

Anything that challenges, or even rocks the basis, of mainstream science interests me. Not least the fact that “heretical” ideas, often seen as nothing more than background noise or a sham, more often than not find their way into, and eventually become, mainstream science itself.

So take the example of Garrett Lisi, an “impoverished surfer” who has come up with a theory about everything and adds a few waves to mainstream science. Excellent. All I hope is that someone, somewhere gets this guy out of his impoverished state and uses his mind to its full potential.

Good luck Lisi.

• The Telegraph

Wonderfully barbaric

I subscribe to the feed for “see mike draw” because I find the cartoons amusing enough to make me laugh. It must be good because this is the second time I’ve linked to a cartoon. Visit the website NOW!!!

• Actually, I call them biscuits

Lightning Over Sandton, RSA

Lightning Over Sandton, RSA

Originally uploaded by maskell_david

One of the delights of the internet is the ability to view (and share) photos with people who you do not know, not likely to ever meet, not likely to have any interaction with, but at least share one moment or common interest. Its not on the same lines as specific social websites (like Facebook, Myspace, etc.) that allow for “social interactions” in a virtual environment, no, its more the possibility to share specific interests with people and nothing more.
And so we come to this photo, somewhere in RSA (I guess I could google for it). What a fabulous way to spend an evening.

Apple, its iPhone, and some tarnish

In years to come it will be interesting to read whether this was the beginning of the end for Apple or just a bad phase that it called a reality check.

 

Whenever journalists want to put down the iPhone they will use the argument that it has no 3G (but then 3G is already outdated and who really uses video chat) and the cost is somewhere in the region of 899 GBP for the whole period of the contract. In the UK (the source of this article) if you were to sign up for an 18 month contract with any phone it would cost around 630 GBP for the same time period. So other than paying the premium for the phone it will cost you the same for the contract period even if you went for a Nokia N-series for example.

 

The iPhone is a premium, “flag ship” device. Of course you will pay through the nose for it. I am not even sympathetic to those who queued up for days and paid 200 USD more than the current price. If you are without meaning in your life then you queue up days in advance for a gadget - get a grip people - and pay a premium to get your hands on the device on the first day, haven’t they ever heard the terms early adopters, and patience. The bottom line is if you want it then you buy it, equally if you think the HTC touch is the gadget for your life then you buy it and then spend the rest of your days cleaning the screen.

 

I am still convinced that people don’t get what the iPhone is. To me I see it as a powerful, hand-held computer with WiFi and telephony. It is not a mobile phone, it is a mobile computing device that is probably what Microsoft had in mind when they designed the UMPC. Apple have done the same but got it right.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Apple faithful dial M for mutiny The disciples have begun to question their faith. ‘We suffer so Apple can make a few more bucks, when Apple is clearly not hurting for money,’ wrote Wil Shipley, an American software developer, on his blog, Call Me Fishmeal. ‘We were there when Apple was hurting, we stuck with it, we nursed her back to health. It’s our money she has now, and she’s turning on us now that she’s rich off it.’ But after years of near religious devotion to Apple and its high priest, chief executive Steve Jobs, there are signs of a revolt in the blogosphere. A series of controversial decisions by Jobs has tarnished Apple’s reputation as an effortlessly cool outfit which was always on the side of the consumer against the Goliath Microsoft. Worst of all, it is now being compared to Microsoft as unexciting and money driven.

Microfinance

clipped from www.businessweek.com EBay: The Place for Microfinance Tracey Pettengill Turner doesn’t want to give handouts to poor people. But she does want to make investments in them. So on Oct. 24, Turner is launching MicroPlace.com, a Web site that lets small investors provide low-interest “micro” loans, of $50 or more, to would-be small business owners. Her hope is to create sustainable economic growth in the world’s most impoverished communities—and do her part to expand the reach of the microfinance industry to more than 1 billion people worldwide, from about 100 million people currently.

Dr Crippen is innocent

Does this story highlight the dangers of relying on “scientific” evidence. This hypothesis (or at least suggestion) is self contradicting since science has been used to find flaws in old science. Never the less, it does beg the question of how too much trust is put on science, even early science.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk 100 years on, DNA casts doubt on Crippen case · Body found in coal cellar was not wife, tests show · Scientist calls for pardon for doctor hanged in 1910 It is one of the most notorious cases in British legal history, the story of an apparently mild-mannered doctor who poisoned and dismembered his showgirl wife, then fled across the Atlantic with his young lover - only to be caught after a sharp-eyed captain recognised him from the newspapers. Dr Hawley Crippen was hanged in 1910, after an Old Bailey jury took just 27 minutes to find him guilty of murdering his wife, Cora, who had vanished earlier that year.