A petition has been set up by Will Patching asking all present and future US presidents to desist from calling themselves ‘leader of the free world’. A very valid point, and one I highly commend.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Iowa caucuses
I was both pleasantly surprised and horribly mortified by the results of the Iowa caucuses on Thursday.
On the one hand, I’m glad that Barack Obama has won for the Democrats, as I simply don’t believe Hillary Clinton is fit to be a president. She can hardly call herself ‘democrat’ with some of the policies she plans to introduce.
On the other hand, I’m becoming increasingly worried about Mike Huckabee. Some of his policies are completely loopy: his support of the Iraq war; the death penalty; the removal of gun control; the isolation of AIDS patients; the prohibition of openly homosexual personell from serving in the military; also, there is evidence that he is homophobic and racist towards other religions. How he can be considered fit to be a President of the world’s greatest superpower, and the self-styled ‘home of democracy’, is beyond me.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Benazir Bhutto is Dead
Ms Benazir Bhutto, the woman who did so much to try to bring democracy and peace to Pakistan, has been assassinated in Rawalpindi.
A very sad end to a great woman, in my opinion. God rest her soul.
1953-2007
RIP
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user IFaqeer.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
A commitment to lower carbon dioxide emissions: deal or no deal?
Again, the Bush administration is talking nothing short of balderdash about climate change. After being caught editing scientific papers to fit in with Bush’s own stance on the subject, and accepting policy advice on climate change from an oil company, the Bush administration is still denying that the Kyoto protocol is necessary. In particular, Bush’s henchmen claim that ‘while the Europeans set their targets high and miss them, we don’t set our targets as high but we frequently exceed them.’
What planet was this man on? The issue is not whether or not countries meet or exceed their targets - it is whether or not the total worldwide CO2 emissions drop in time to prevent the global temperature passing the point of no return. It’s ridiculous to think that such a large emitter as the USA can not bind itself to lowering CO2 emissions by any amount. And Bush’s talk about the USA being a ‘world leader’ on climate change is more spin than is physically possible without the administration shattering apart.
I can only, however, hope that the US finally says ‘deal’ to a reasonable offer laid down by the Ban-Ki Moon before they end up finding that they have a new desert in their box.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
al-Qaeda attacks Algiers
I’ve just heard news of a car bomb attack in Algeria. Of course, I can’t say very much to add to the news reports about this - except my opinion that to have it as a five-minute item on the BBC Six O’Clock News followed by a story about house prices is a disgrace. If this had happened in, say, London or New York, there would be an immediate news report breaking into all the channels and pretty much constant coverage for hours on hours.
Friday, December 7, 2007
FORTY-TWO!?
FORTY-TWO? Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work!?
–Loonquawl, computer operator, quoted in The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
So, after bandying around with ninety, twenty-eight, and fifty-six, the Government has finally settled on forty-two. This is the number of days it would like to be able to hold terror suspects without charge, after succeeding in extending it to a perfectly sufficient 28 days.
Now, the police have said that a longer period may be needed - in the future and in case of an emergency. There is absolutely no reason why the Government can’t simply extend the limit in the event of a national emergency being imposed. Although, of course, that would mean that the ‘terrorists have won’.
Utter rubbish. If anything, these new measures being proposed give the terrorists more ammunition against the UK. And the argument that it “may be needed for the future” is like saying “we might need to shrink the Sun in future - let’s do it now!” It is completely inappropriate timing on the Government’s part.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
BBC + ITN = MI5?
I came across this website some time ago - to be honest, I am worried.
I can’t say that I believe the author, but it appears that he is either playing some kind of protracted joke or is suffering from some kind of mental illness. I don’t say that in a derogatory way: to be honest, I am worried for this person’s health.
I won’t post a link to the WHOIS data because that would, I believe, be insensitive. However, it appears that the name he used (it does appear to be a he) is an anagram, used to protect his own privacy.
I feel sorry for him if he’s gone as far as using an anagram to sign up for his domain name, and has been driven to believe that MI5 have planted a sort of ‘telescreen’ (echoes of Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four, folks) in his living room.
Your thoughts please - however, please note that insensitive comments will be frowned upon.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Not the government’s fault
BBC Newsnight has just confirmed that the data on the optical disks which were lost by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs was not encrypted.
It just serves as a reminder that there’s a sucker born every minute. And, of course, this has given ammunition to certain right-wing newspapers against the government.
But, in reality, is it really fair to blame the government? It’s like blaming the Headmaster because your child hung himself with his tie at school. The buck stops with the idiot who sent it in the post instead of simply sending it down the line to the Government. It’s certainly not an excuse for the Tories to use in Parliament.
Encryption and Passwords for the Dummies at the Inland Revenue
So, Her Majesty’s delightful Revenue and Customs have now got into a bit of a pickle - they’ve lost 25 million people’s confidential information.
And, it appears that HM Revenue and Customs won’t tell us whether or not the data was encrypted, for ’security reasons’. Well, that generally means, ‘they aren’t’.
So, put simply, a huge cock-up.
However, it would have been made a lot better if the data had been encrypted - in other words, scrambled to make it impossible to read without a ‘key’.
So, if they weren’t encrypted, why not? And, what’s more, why the hell were they sent through the insecure postal system, and not either a) delivered by hand or b) delivered over at least two encryption methods by running a cable between the HQ of HMR&C and the Audit Office?
Nevertheless, most people reading this (well, if they have children) will be concerned about whether or not to worry about it. Well, chances are you don’t.
However, there are some common-sense rules concerning passwords etc - basic stuff, which is really important.
- If you’re using a blank password, for goodness’s sake CHANGE IT!
- If you’re using an easily-guessed password, such as password, open, security etc., change it.
- If it contains you or your children’s date/s of birth, change it.
- If it contains you or your children’s names, change it.
- If it’s the same as your username, change it.
- If it’s shorter than 12 characters, change it.
- If it only contains letters or only contains numbers, change it.
- If you haven’t changed the password for more than three months, change it.
- If you’ve given it to someone, then you’re a twit. Change it.
- If you see any unusual transactions on your statement, tell the bank and change it.
Common sense tells you most of these things, and you might think ‘it won’t happen to me!’. Tough luck, mate. The Bad Guys are out there to get you, and while we can’t stop government staff being so stupid, we can put in some common sense protection to avoid being affected.
