BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Clothes of 1924 head for Everest

BBC NEWS Science/Nature Clothes of 1924 head for Everest:

It turns out that the clothes used 80 years were pretty sophisticated and in some ways, such as freeedom of movement allowed, may have been better. I have a technologist's tendency to believe that newer is better.

Environmental Hysteria

The Independent today Independent Online Edition > Environment claims that

The European Commission report says that if the current rate of growth in air travel is continued, it will result in a 150 per cent increase in emissions from international flights from EU airports by 2012.

Its not credible to claim that emissions will more than double in 5 years, so I have to assume that this unreferenced report is being misrepresented. My guess would be that the claim is for a 150% increase sinece 1990.

The Independent does this all the time. It seems to have intensified sinece they moved to Tabloid format.

Man or Woman, Child or God?

Falkirk to Linlithgow Rail Tunnel

Falkirk to Linlithgow Rail Tunnel
Originally uploaded by timniblett.

The canals from Glasgow to Edinburgh, include this monster which is about 800 meters long, just past Falkirk on the way to Linlithgow.

Apache and Skype

I run Skype (great program). I wanted to install Apache on my local Windows box. I kept getting the error message:

Only one usage of each socket address is normally permitted. :make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:80 no listening sockets available, Shutting down.

Unable to open logs.

This stops Apache running and installing itself as a service.

It turns out that Skype is the cause of the problem. It listens to port 80 (by default I guess). Quitting skype wasn't enough, I also had to kill its process manually. The way to do is to kill it from the Windows task manager (Crtl-Alt-Del).

Once Skype is killed you can setup apache as a service via "apache -k install" and it should start before Skype on boot thereafter. Skype can use other ports than the http port, although its still listening for https connections...

Not friendly, although understandable I guess in terms of getting Skype working as widely as possible.

New Housing on the Clyde at Partick

New housing on the Clyde at Partick

Oliver Kamm

I read Oliver Kamm's blog from time to time.

His latest entry, http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2005/05/right_again.html explains why he thinks Tony Blair was right over Iraq.

The money quote for me is:

Overthrowing Saddam Hussein by force - for there was no other way to topple his regime - was an act of outstanding moral clarity and strategic importance. I pay tribute to the PM for having seen this point so early, and for having it carried it through despite the opposition of many in his party and elsewhere.

He seems to be saying that Tony Blair saw that regime change was necessary and did what it took.

My problem with the "moral clarity" is that Tony Blair sold the war to the public and Parliament by insisting that it wasn't about regime change, but about Saddam's refusal to implement UN Security Council resolutions and/or about a clear and present danger to the security of the UK posed by weapons of mass destruction.

Let's assume that Blair's reason or going to war was as suggested by Oliver Kamm. Surely this should have been publicly debated? The political process is debased when the Prime Minister is not prepared to put a case of such "moral clarity" to the public, presumably because he judged it would be rejected.

Oliver Kamm frequently castigates Noam Chomsky for what he terms sophistry and intellectual dishonesty. His comments on Tony Blair seem to mirror Chomsky's approach to the truth, except that he comes to praise rather than bury. A large part of the case against Tony Blair's approach to Iraq is surely that he didn't have the courage of his convictions (as attributed by Oliver Kamm) but tried to pursue a second rate and bogus rationale for the pursuit of the war, and in the end seems to have discredited any valid case he had for the war.

Chris Lawson's Birthday Party

Chris Lawson
Originally uploaded by timniblett.

We just came back from Chris's birthday bash. It was in Buxton, which is a kind of inland holiday resort (spa). We even tasted the waters.

The lunch on the Saturday was a memorable experience. I hadn't seen some of the people there for 25 years so it was a bit like going to a masked ball where the underlying face was less real than the mask.

Oddly enough, apart from the physical changes, people don't seem to change much with the years, or at least the relationships with them don't.

Thanks Chris! It was a unique experience.

First post

I thought I'd try out Blogger for my weblog. I'd like it to be able to link to my main website though.