Archive for the 'Interesting' Category

Forbidden knowledge

Published
by
Sal
on October 9, 2007
in Interesting
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According to the BBC, a teenager has been arrested for the crime of possession of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook”, and having attempted to obtain some of the chemicals required to make some of it’s recipes. While the unlicensed manufacture and use of explosives has probably been illegal for a very long time, the criminalization of possession of this book seems paradoxical:

For starters, the book is still on sale on Amazon.co.uk and has been sold legally in the UK for more than 30 years. It can be downloaded for free. (If you clicked on that link then you just came into posession of this allegedly terrorist book - please make an appropriate confession at your local police station).

I’m not a fan of this book: It’s more suited to somebody wishing to commit suicide than instigate a bloody Jihad. If you really want to blow things up you would be much better off consulting the US Army’s improvised munitions handbook. This excellent and well-researched book provides all the relevant formulations and ingredients for a wide range of high-explosives, plus handy safety tips to ensure that your ‘package’ gets ‘delivered’ to the right revolutionary or diplomat.

The Anarchist’s Cookbook is amateur stuff by comparison.

Alisher Usmanov meet Barbra Streisand

Published
by
Sal
on October 3, 2007
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Justin McKeating’s article on the Usmanov censorship affair is a good read, because he highlights a simple fact apparently unknown to the sort of lawyers who specialize in making critical voices “Cease and Desist”. Freedom of speech is the one issue that unites just about every one of the world’s bloggers - and this incident has done a superb job of highlighting the inanity of British Libel laws, specifically the fact that any attempt to use them to silence internet speech will almost instantly result in the opposite of the desired effect.

This is yet another example of the well documented “Barbra Streisand Effect“, however with a novel twist that our quaint Libel laws and recent legal precedent from the Demon Internet case have made our British hosting companies even more risk-adverse than usual. While we can certainly blame Mr. Usmanov for his ill-considered heavy-handed litigation, we should also share the blame with cowardly Fasthosts who pulled the plug on reciept fo Usmanov’s complaints without even the most basic verification.

Sagor & Swing

Published
by
Sal
on September 30, 2007
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I want them to play this song as the theme tune for the epic biopic about my life, or alternativly at my funeral (whichever comes first - I dont mind). This organ-funk jazz freak-out came in as a hot-tip from my free-music Guru, Marvin Suicide whose taste is always impeccable and whose hunger for fresh sounds never seems to diminish.

Sagor & Swing

The tune is by a Swedish beat combo called “Sagor and Swing” - according to Wikipedia they’ve split up a few years ago, but their sweet sounds are only just starting to reach the rest of Europe. If you appreciate this hyper-organ funk sound then you can download a few more of their tracks for free courtesy of their record label.

Struck By Lightning

Published
by
Sal
on April 26, 2006
in Interesting and Strange
. 7 Comments

Most people imagine that the risk of being struck by lightning is somewhat similar to the risk of winning the National Lottery, or perhaps that of “close-encounters” style alien abduction. Anybody who has spent some time in a hospital burns unit will know that this blatantly untrue: In the UK, lightning strikes are frequent incidents – the victims mostly die instantly, but those who are not electrocuted usually make a complete recovery. I know this for a fact because about fifteen years I was struck by lightning, and have lived to tell the tale.

The people who most frequently become victims of lightning are golfers and mountaineers. The first category tend to be determined men who play through the rain. On a gently undulating golf course, a raised golf-club acts like a perfect lightning conductor; a metal spike which will guide the millions of volts through the sportsman’s arms and into his heart and lungs.

The second group attract the lightning because like the golfer, their metallic mountaineering kit provides a more convenient route for for the spark to cross from the clouds and the earth. Climbing axes and crampons provide an ideal form of earthing which makes the climber into a human lightning rod. In the case of the unfortunate mountaineer, he is more likely to be killed by a sudden fall then the electric shock.

When I was struck by lightning I was neither a mountaineer, nor a golfer: I was a schoolboy.

I attended a famous school called Repton. It’s famous for being the place where Roald Dahl got bullied (and became his inspiration for “Boy”). It was also the educational institution responsible for that pillar of society Jeremy Clarkson. Like most British private schools, Repton had a profitable arrangement with the Ministry of Defense.

Continue reading ‘Struck By Lightning’

A Bizarre pamphlet from the Church of Scientology

Published
by
Sal
on April 16, 2006
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. 0 Comments

I found a pamphlet from an organisation called [the] “Citizen’s Commission on Human Rights“, an group that I was surprised to learn was an offshoot of that notorious fruity cult, The Church of Scientology.
You can click the link below to see a full-sized version of the scan hosted elsewhere:
A bizarre pamphlet

According to the L. Ron Hubbard’s unauthorised biography (Bare Faced Messiah), the cult’s founder and author of pulp science-fiction novels had a profound loathing of all psychiatrists; The Church of Scientology was fequently the subject of critical reports by the American Psychiatric Association. Hubbard believed himself the victim of a conspiracy theory, masterminded by a cabal of scheeming psychiatrists.

For more information, I suggest you check out the informative Scientology episode of South-Park (which despite it’s reputation contains a very concise summary of what Scientologists actually believe). You might also peruse Frank Key’s excellent notes on that most bizarre of religions.

Dr McNinja

Published
by
Sal
on February 5, 2006
in Art, Fiction and Interesting
. 0 Comments

Tom Hume has been reading “The Adventures of Dr. McNinja“, and exciting cartoon series…

Dr McNinja… he’s a medical doctor but he is also a Ninja. He wants to save life but his Ninja family want him to join the family business… assasination. Dr McNinja faces extrordinary dangers in his medical career - like giant lumberjacks and his own dissapointed family.  And if that wasnt enough to deal with, he’s got to resolve the aincient blood feud between the Ninjas and the Pirates.

Calling Bullshit on Colgate

Published
by
Sal
on February 4, 2006
in Interesting, Photos and voffle
. 0 Comments

A giant advert near Aldgate proclaims that Colgate’s brand of toothpaste is “Used by more than 70% dental professionals”. From this I guess we are supposed to infer that most dentists endorse Colgate’s toothpaste, however as I motorbiked past this advert it occurred to me that the meaning of this bold statement was ambiguous:

For starters, what is meant by the “Dental Profession” - they could have said “Dentists” or “Dental Practitioners”, these would have been more obvious things to say if they were actually true. The phrase “Dental Professional” might refer to any professional grade employee or subcontractor working for any company that makes at least one dental product or provides any kind of service to the dental industry. By this definition, Colgate’s endorsement-count would also include their own staff, plus the IT and accounts departments of any hospital that happens to have a dental department.

Were this the case, the fact that these people use the product may have nothing at all to do with an informed preference. The most this advert can be construed to mean is that their particular type of toothpaste is popular and therefore it cannot be all that bad.

Thinking about toothpaste I began reading the text on the side of a pump of “Colgate Oxygen” - the latest snazzy toothpaste that makes the following product claims:

DSC_3504.JPG
“Colgate Oxygen Toothpaste releases fine bubbles of pure oxygen. Plaque and impurities are gently lifted away. For a clean mouth, like a breath of fresh air. And Colgate’s proven care and protection for your teeth and gums.”

Aside from the obvious bad grammar in this text, once again we see the Colgate company making some duplicitous claims about their product. It’s possible that Colgate Oxygen toothpaste, while not actually containing any gaseous oxygen may contain an agent which releases bubbles of oxygen… but under what circumstance? Is this oxygen the agent responsible for “gently lifting” “plaque and impurities”, or is that just a non-sequitur?

DSC_3513.JPG
In any case, assuming the first claim (the mere existence of these oxygen bubbles), these must have been caused by a chemical reaction involving one or more of the ingredients in the product. Scanning through the list, the only likely candidate is calcium-peroxide: Traditionally this substance is used as a dental bleaching agent. In the presence of acids, calcium-peroxide breaks down to form atomic oxygen, however in the low concentrations present in a there is unlikely to be enough to form “bubbles of pure oxygen”; the substance produced might have more in common with the emissions from a photocopier than a “breath of fresh air”.

Three new Epistaxes, and one of Hooting Yard

Published
by
Sal
on November 9, 2005
in Interesting, Podcasts, Strange and voffle
. 0 Comments

I’ve just uploaded three more episodes of the exciting “Epistaxis Time” podcast series to the archive. Please listen and be disturbed. I’ve also posted the last 2004 episode of “Hooting Yard” to the Resonance podcast collection.

Shelley the Republican

Published
by
Sal
on November 9, 2005
in Interesting, Podcasts and Politics
. 0 Comments

A quick glance through the politics section of the iTunes music store will show a bias towards left-wing or liberal podcasts. I guess conservatives generally don’t feel the need to take up the microphone when there are so many nationally syndicated American broadcasters willing to big-up the government.

Americans can watch Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly or the outrageous Anne Coulter, who famously described her middle-eastern foreign policy as We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity“.

Most conservatives do not feel a compelling need for DIY media; after all they are hardly likely to feel threatened by corporate controlled news. That explains why they feel no need for a conservative version of Indymedia.org - they have Fox!

Despite this, some conservatives have taken up podcasting. Introducing Shelley the Republican: a rising star of conservatism: She lives in Rural Texas and is an one of a new wave of republican activists. You can tell from her name that she is a passionate supporter of George W Bush, and devotes a great deal of personal time and energy to talking up her government’s achievements.

Now Shelley’s opinions are anything but moderate; I personally find them shocking. She Hates Islam. She suspects that most Moslems are terrorists or at least terrorist supporters. The only people she dislikes more than Moslems are the French, whom she describes as soft, gay and tolerant. I didnt have the opportunity to ask her what she thinks of gays, but I imagine she thinks it’s un-natural, evail and wrong.

So if I were a gay French Moslem, I expect she would be tempted to shoot on site.

I’m fascinated by Shelly because she is as different from me as any English speaking person is likely to be. Even though I disagree with her on almost any point we care to raise, I think it’s important to understand her point of view because great many Americans think like her.

Shelley is prepared to say what core Republican party supporters are really thinking. She and many like her form the base of the Bush Administration’s power.

George W Bush’s policy is designed to please Shelley and millions of Americans who think like her. I think the perverse policies that come out of Downing St are designed to please President Bush, so to some extent, by understanding Shelley we can understand what motivates Tony Blair.

One last thing; If you decide to leave a comment on Shelley’s blog please be polite and constructive. Shelly gets substantially more readers than I do, and I would hate to have them make a preemptive “shock and awe” strike on my blog; remember they have guns!

Pointless Blog Spam

Published
by
Sal
on October 11, 2005
in Interesting and Strange
. 0 Comments

The volume of trackbacks and comments on my blog has recently increased. Its not a reaction to my incisive technical commentary, nor is it the league of goths and Stargate SG1 nerds who regularly post in order call me a lamer.

The spammers have returned and this time with more sophisticated spambots which are capable of eluding the first generation of Wordpress anti-spam plugins I installed two months ago. Ive just upgraded my spam-fighting tools, and I am curious to see how effective the spammers will be against a combination of anti bot techniques.

The Annoying Spam Site

In the meantime, I wonder what it is that the spammers are hoping to gain; They are using some of the most advanced blog spamming techniques to advertise some of the most ludicrous and easily filtered-out websites. These consist of pages of computer generated gibberish. I expect that they are designed to draw traffic away from Google, however since all these computer generated sites share the same structure and run from a small number of IP addresses, Google will have no difficulty in blacklisting all of them.

I cannot work it out; A great deal of effort has gone into running a spamming campaign, but without any obvious payoff, and a strategy so fatally flawed as to render it not worth bothering with in the first place.