The holy grail pt. II

Well, I suppose I should update the blog after this post about my beloved Calgary Flames' 2007 playoff quest.

With a heavy heart, I report that they were snuffed in 6 games by the superior Detroit Red Wings. To be quite honest, the Flames are lucky they lasted 6.

As far as Canadian teams go, that leaves Vancouver and Ottawa. How should I put this...? Go Ottawa.

And with the eternal optimism of the sports fan, I say, there's always next year.

The national hankie

There's an article by Christopher Hitchens on Slate about last week's shootings at Virginia Tech in America. It's a little hardhearted, but I agree with the general point. The point is to question the need everyone seems to feel to "whip out the national hankie" (in America and elsewhere) when strangers die tragically:

The grisly events at Virginia Tech involved no struggle, no sacrifice, no great principle. They were random and pointless. Those who died were not soldiers in any cause. They were not murdered by our enemies. They were not martyrs.

And getting to the point:

It was my friend Adolph Reed who first pointed out this tendency to what he called "vicarious identification." At the time of the murder of Lisa Steinberg in New York in 1987, he was struck by the tendency of crowds to show up for funerals of people they didn't know, often throwing teddy bears over the railings and in other ways showing that (as well as needing to get a life) they in some bizarre way seemed to need to get a death. The hysteria that followed a traffic accident in Paris involving a disco princess—surely the most hyped non-event of all time—seemed to suggest an even wider surrender to the overwhelming need to emote: The less at stake, the greater the grieving.

Back in 1997 I marvelled at the over-the-top grieving for Diana (even while -- I sheepishly admit -- I stayed up late to watch the funeral back in Canada). I wondered for the first time why people seemed to need these triggers; these moments of spontaneous national emotion. Watching the film The Queen recently, I wondered if poor old Elizabeth II didn't get a raw deal, at the time, being pilloried for attempting to demonstrate the famous British stiff upper lip.

Why do we find events like Diana's accident, or the Virgina tech massacre, so much more emotional than other, equally tragic deaths? How many people are murdered each day in America? How many soldiers and civilians die in Iraq each week? (U.S. soldiers dying in by ones-and-twos in Iraq and Afghanistan barely makes the U.S. headlines any more). How many people die in road accidents each day? Do we stop paying attention when the deaths stop being sensational? Since these less famous deaths are no less tragic or senseless, why are they so much less important to the public? Or, more to the point of Chris Hitchens, why are the Virginia Tech murders so much more important?

Is it simply because they're sensational and unusual? I really don't want to be insensitive, but maybe we should ask ourselves: Is it that, deep down, we all love a good tragedy now and then?

Great work if you can get it

Just back from a 'work' trip to the Mountain View, California, headquarters of my company, Symantec (formerly Veritas).

I've been there for work several times since moving to the UK, but this time was a little different; this time was for a corporate Foosball tournament (that's table football in the UK). Yes, I spent the work week in California just for that.

When the idea was first put forward, of an international tournament for the engineering groups, I guess I thought it sounded a bit wasteful, financially speaking. Especially since we've been laying off engineers recently. First prize would be a pair of massive plasma televisions. Second prize, a pair of Xboxes. There would be a local tournament for each office, and the winning teams would fly in from around the World. China, India, Israel, Belgium, and the UK were to be represented, as well as teams from sites around the US.

But really, I have to admit they made quite an event of it. There was a large projection screen showing an overhead view of the main table, an internal website with live updates, posters around the campus, a photographer, food, and beer and wine. A couple of hundred employees were on hand at any given time during the finals matches. Quite the production, and probably good for employee morale, I'd guess.

As for the results: The Roseville, Minnesota team were unstoppable. In the photo above, they're in the grey shirts with their backs to the camera, playing against the Belgians in the final. The one guy, Sam, had a couple of moves that were impossible for anyone to defend -- it was so fast you could barely see it happen. (Ya can't stop what ya can't see.) His deft passing and lightning fast shots put them head and shoulders above the other teams.

Unfortunately for my partner Stuart and I, we drew Minnesota in the first round (see photo, left). Thus, we were out of the main competition by 11am the first day. We didn't embarrass ourselves -- nobody else equalled our 6 goals against them until the Belgians in the final. In the end, though, the Minnesotans never lost a game.

Apparently Sam bought one of these tables and practiced his shots in his bedroom. Honey, can we get one?

It's supposed to be an annual event. Next year we'll have Sam's moves figured out.

Watch what you say

From an editorial in the Calgary Herald:

No-fly list - Re: "Canada to launch no-fly list in spring," Jan. 14.

My name is on that international list, and I'm not a Muslim terrorist or an Irish Republican. Every time I attempt to check in for an international flight (which I do frequently), I'm challenged and made to feel like a criminal until I get clearance.

At the moment, my visa to enter Australia is held up while the consulate checks me out.

(The Calgary Herald is my hometown newspaper).

Overall, sounds like a pretty typical story: Innocent person's name ends up on some no-fly list or international "watch list" and gets hassled every time he tries to board a flight.

No doubt there is a scoundrel out there by the name of James McLaughlin, but if the data base were to include other details such as date of birth, passport number or other unique identifiers, surely they could identify me as the harmless wimp I've worked so hard to be.

James McLaughlin... Hey, that's my name! (James is my first name). The guy who wrote that editorial is my Dad, and since we have the same name, I'm on the list too. My Dad has joked before about my CIA file, since I started writing politically-oriented stuff on this blog. But seriously, I have this feeling that the "scoundrel out there" is probably me.

Isn't it coincidental that I/we have ended up on this list since I've started publishing stuff here? I was put through extra scrutiny the last time I went to the States, though the Virgin checkin clerk wouldn't say exactly why; Just that I'm "on a list". I can't do online checkin any more either. It couldn't be that having occasionally-contrarian political opinions gets you on a watch list, could it?

Sure it could:

Meet Professor Walter F. Murphy, emeritus of Princeton University. He's a former Marine, with five years of active service and 19 years in the reserve, and a legal critic of Roe vs Wade and supporter of the Alito confirmation. He's also on the Terrorist No-Fly List:

"I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said."

I guess we all have to be careful what we say. Particularly if we're not American citizens.

I leave tomorrow morning to spend the week in California, for work. Those INS cats at SFO in San Francisco are a joy at the best of times. Wish me luck.

As in uggly?

These things, "Ugg boots", are all the rage in England at the moment. They could be elsewhere, too, I don't know (I'm going to California next week, so I'll keep my eyes open).

OK, seriously, who thinks this is attractive footware for women? Cute? Sexy? Elegant? Sophisticated? Sporty even? No, absolutely not, no, no, and no.

They're clunky, ugly, and cheap looking. They 'age' badly as they get a little worn and wet/dirty (they're sheepskin suede as I understand it, which is difficult to take care of anyway).

There's a somewhat cute chick who works in my building, but when I saw her wearing a pair of these, well... Honey, they make you look like some kind of homeless eskimo. Get some proper shoes. Something, anything but these.

Seriously, I rarely get worked up about fashion. But I hope this particular trend fizzles in a hurry. Just when I thought we'd escaped the season of long, long, pointy witch-shoes. Bring back the witch-shoes, for goodness sake.

Whatcha got there, fido?

Worth reading, if only for the photo. Makes my kitty's mouse-capades seem pretty weak by comparison.

"Chen said the zoo purchased the crocodile from a local resident who had kept it as a pet."

Dastardly Iranians

A quote:

“Don’t hold your breath waiting for liberals to condemn Iran for their treatment of the captured British marines.” Exhale, everybody! The marines are reporting that they were subjected to false execution, a well-known form of psychological torture and one which I condemn unreservedly. I have this rule of thumb, which I recommend to everyone: if Solzhenitsyn recounts some practice as one employed in coercive interrogations at Lubyanka, it’s torture. So, false execution: definitely torture. Also torture: long-time standing; exposure to extremes of heat and cold; forcing prisoners to kneel or stand in painful positions; putting prisoners in cells so small they cannot stand or lie down; keeping them awake for days at a time. These practices were the meat and drink of the NKVD, who preferred them to fingernail extraction for the same reason certain American torture advocates do: they can be made to seem as if they are not torture, even though they are, in fact, actually torture. FYI.

The holy grail

The Stanley Cup. Isn't it the most beautiful sports trophy you've ever seen? This is Ice Hockey's "holy grail". Superstition has it that if you ever hope to win this trophy, you are never supposed to even touch it before the day you hold it over your head as a champion.

Guess I'll never win. I happened upon it at the local rink in San Jose, California one day, and couldn't resist pawing it. Besides, the London , England recreational teams aren't allowed to compete. ;-)

However, this year my Calgary Flames have managed to slink into the very last western conference playoff spot, in the most non-confidence-inspiring way possible. They nearly blew it by losing all of their last 4 games.

They'll face the second best team in the league, the Detroit Red Wings, in the best-of-seven first playoff round. In 2004 the Flames managed to beat the Wings in 6 games in the second round. In 2006 (there was no 2005 season) Calgary's historic rivals, the lowest-seeded Edmonton Oilers, did the same in the first round. Both Calgary and Edmonton subsequently went all the way to the finals, where both lost heartbreaking do-or-die 7th games (though I can't say my heart bled for the Oilers -- Calgary fans would never have heard the end of it).

This year the Oilers will be watching the playoffs at home on TV. Two other storied Canadian teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens will be doing the same. The Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators, and Vancouver Canucks will be carrying the flag this year. A Canadian city hasn't won the cup since 1993.

Can you tell I'm excited? Go Flames go.

Belgium photos

Kim's VFR needs a bit of work done, so we had to skip the customary Easter weekend motorcycle tour this year. In lieu we took the Eurostar train to Brussels, Belgium via the Channel Tunnel. Here are the photos.

Cheney's flying circus

Remember how, back in 2000, Dick Cheney was supposed to be the pragmatic, experienced 'adult' in the Bush-Cheney partnership?

That's kind of laughable now, isn't it?

Today in the news we have Cheney reasserting the thoroughly-discredited theory that Saddam Hussein's Iraq was in league with Al Qaida:

Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group.

Why does Cheney continue to insist upon this? Well, keep in mind he's trying to defend the indefensible (the tattered case for the Iraq invasion). Logic theory tells us that when we start with a flawed assumption, we can come to any conclusion we like. That's why it's so important to get your facts straight before you begin using them to test your hypotheses. When you think about how many flawed assumptions underpinned the argument for war in Iraq (WMDs, Al Qaida links, being greeted as liberators, and a quick, cheap war with minimal troops) it's pretty easy to understand why the whole adventure has turned into such a disaster.

Cheney contended that al-Qaida was operating in Iraq before the March 2003 invasion led by U.S. forces and that terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was leading the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida. Others in al-Qaida planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Al Qaida may well have been operating in Iraq, but then they were (are?) operating in the US and lots of other countries besides. That doesn't mean they had the government's blessing to be there. As a secular, socialist, cult-of-personality dictatorship, Saddam's government had no love for the Islamists who wanted to see him deposed. America was Al Qaida's "far enemy". Regimes like those of Mubarak and Saddam were the "near enemy".

“He took up residence there before we ever launched into Iraq, organized the al-Qaida operations inside Iraq before we even arrived on the scene and then, of course, led the charge for Iraq until we killed him last June,” Cheney told radio host Rush Limbaugh during an interview. “As I say, they were present before we invaded Iraq.”

Cheney is deliberately fudging the timelines here: Anyone who has read The Looming Tower (a detailed history of Al Qaida before September 11) or indeed, anyone who simply has a good memory, knows that Zarqawi was not a member of the terrorist group before the US invasion of Iraq -- on the contrary, he was a rival.

The vice president is either mendacious to his core, or thoroughly delusional. Maybe it's both. Thankfully, even given the best medical care, we have to suffer at most 21 more months of Cheney's flying circus.

2008 Hayabusa?

This is a a drawing scanned from the Motorcycle News here in the UK. I've been waiting and searching for a photo of the planned new 2008 Hayabusa. Mine is an original, X-series 1999 (she's gradually recovering from her little prang-up a couple of weeks ago, as I've been buying replacement bits). In the meantime they haven't updated the Hayabusa's style at all from the original (hey, why mess with perfection?), but I'm eagerly anticipating what they've got in store with the new version.

I don't know if this drawing is for real, or if it's another one of MCN's "artists' impressions". A part of me hopes it's not quite the real deal; The rumour has been that there'll be an upgrade to a possible V6, 1400cc engine (Zowie!). But if the new one isn't faster/lighter/more powerful then I'm not sure I'd upgrade.

From this drawing it looks like it's missing a bit of that... "alien fighter jet" look I enjoy so much. It appears to be just that little bit more common to me. Maybe I'm weird but I like the batmobile nose and the seat hump of the original. Some people think it's ugly, but not me! The looks are what interested me in the first place, before I even found out what it was capable of. Then I just had to have one.

But if the 2008 is the new speed/power champ, then I can get over the looks.

Speaking of Santorini

After posting about Kimmy's photo from Santorini, all of a sudden the island is in the news this afternoon:

An operation to evacuate up to 1,600 people from a stricken cruise ship is under way off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini.

The Greek-flagged Sea Diamond issued a distress signal after running aground and is taking on water, according to local news reports.

The large cruise ships usually come into Santorini's harbour at the rate of 1-2 per day. They arrive in the morning, berthing out in the water (see photo) and Fira town floods with tourists for the day (a lot of Americans, usually) who are ferried back and forth by smaller boats. As the sun sets the ships light up and sail off again. It's really quite scenic. This ship was carrying Americans and Germans, according to the article, and apparently nobody's been hurt as a result, so that's good at least.

But don't let any of this stop you from visiting Santorini (even on a cruise ship). It really is the most beautiful place I've ever been.

Kimmy the photography superstar

...has had a photo selected for critique in Photography Monthly magazine's print version. They do this with a few readers' photos each month. She got her copy yesterday and it goes to newsstands April 11. The photo is analyzed, changed in Photoshop, etc over a 2-page spread.

Here's the original

It's notable because of the warm colours (it was taken near sunset in Oia, Santorini) though in the magazine's critique they decided they wanted to turn it into the standard, Cycladic island white-on-blue colour scheme -- I think they missed the point! Still, it's a positive write-up in general and a real accomplishment to get it into print like this!

It's also notable because she didn't actually submit this for the print version, just the online one (where they've previously featured a couple of Kim's photos already). Normally the print version has a different submission process.

I think the magazine is UK-based, so I'll have to buy copies here and ship them to the people in North America, I think. Get your orders in!

Visopsys and Partition Logic 0.67

On Tuesday I released version 0.67 of my operating system, Visopsys. Wednesday came the corresponding release of the relatively popular little tool Partition Logic which is based on Visopsys. What, you thought I sat around writing blog posts all day? :-)

Most people don't have much use for a hobby operating system (hey, I don't even use it for daily tasks yet). But Partition Logic is, I've found, a way to make Visopsys useful to regular people. Well, okay, slightly above-average computer users, that is, who like to do a little of their own system administration. Partition Logic is a tool for reconfiguring the layout of your computer's hard disk so that you can have separate data volumes, for example, or install multiple operating systems on one machine.

There's a little blurb about the Visopsys release here on OSNews.

April 1st roundup

I've been looking around, but either there's a dearth of amusing pranks today or else I'm not clever enough to spot most of them. To start with we obviously have the usual Google stories:

Google "Toilet ISP" sewer-based home broadband.
Google "Gmail Paper" email printing service.

And we have Tony Blair's return to acting.

And finally we have my first post of the day.

My friend from the article, Rila P. Loofs, pointed out that this might have been a little too believable (which is kinda scary), and also not very funny.

Afterwards I wished I'd added something sillier at the end about the government's next scheme, which would have been to implant household pets with mini cameras. Pets are always following us around, curious about what we're doing. A natural partner in law enforcement. Imagine if Fido was recording all those things you get up to at home. :-)

Oh well, there's always next year.

Happy Rila P. Loofs day, Primera Delmes!

I couldn't quite figure out the "Pahli Tarikh" one though. I get 'April' out of it, but if it's an anagram they've stumped me with the rest. Anybody?

Yet more good news from Google

For years we've heard about Google's "dark fibre" purchases -- unused fibre optic cable, but now we're finding out they've got plans for our dark porcelain as well:

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced the launch of Google TiSP (BETA)™, a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users' plumbing systems. The Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) project is a self-installed, ad-supported online service that will be offered entirely free to any consumer with a WiFi-capable PC and a toilet connected to a local municipal sewage system.

It even comes with a self-installation kit (pictured above).

"I couldn't be more excited about, and am only slightly grossed out by, this remarkable new product," said Marissa Mayer, Google's Vice President of Search Products and User Experience. "I firmly believe TiSP will be a breakthrough product, particularly for those users who, like Larry himself, do much of their best thinking in the bathroom."

Can't wait to start pushing out blog posts from the bathroom.

Gmail paper

Another good idea from the boys in Mountain View: Google introduces "Gmail Paper", a service where you can choose to print all your email and have it delivered, for free. How about attachments?

All part of the deal. Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper, and secured to your Gmail Paper with a paper clip. MP3 and WAV files will not be printed. We recommend maintaining copies of your non-paper Gmail in these cases.

But what about the environment?

Not a problem. Gmail Paper is made out of 96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum, and thus, actually helps the environment. For every Gmail Paper we produce, the environment gets incrementally healthier.

Tony Blair to resume acting career

Seems our Prime Minister has some plans for his retirement from politics. He's getting back to his acting career:

Tony Blair has agreed to resurrect his interest in acting when he leaves Number 10 after he was approached about a major stage role by his close friend, the artistic director of the Old Vic, Kevin Spacey, The Observer can reveal.

Good for Tony. I really enjoyed the Comic Relief sketch, he did really well. If only we could keep him harmlessly entertaining us, instead of starting wars. However perhaps he should wait until he's actually out of office:

One senior cabinet minister, who did not wish to be named, said: 'An ambassador arrived at Number 10 the other day to find Tony dressed like a Puritan, waving a crucifix in the air and shouting about chasing out the devil. Fortunately the ambassador had studied The Crucible at UCL.'

Good scoop by Pahli Tarikh and Primera Delmes.

Surveillance society

The British government is at it again. Now they'll be using our mobile phones to listen to our conversations, even when they're sitting in our pockets, apparently inactive:

The home office is seeking to include a potentially controversial new provision in an upcoming extension of the UK Terrorism Act. A section of the draft tabled in the House of Commons last week, expected to see first reading on Tuesday, will include the stipulation that all mobile phones sold in the UK will enable authorities to remotely activate the handset microphone for law enforcement purposes.

Effectively, all mobile customers will be carrying 'bugs' that can be used to eavesdrop on their daily activities and interactions.

The feature, "Passive Listening Mode" is apparently already available, but inactive, in a number of brands of phone and will shortly become mandatory.

Deputy UK privacy commissioner Rila P. Loofs said Saturday "The commissioner is very concerned about this provision. It leaves the door open to serious abuse of citizens' privacy rights and will rightly be seen as yet another step forward toward the surveillance society. How will we be sure our phones aren't helping somebody to eavesdrop on our private conversations?".

Because terrorists apparently aren't smart enough to take out the batteries when they're hatching their evil plots.