tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:10:56 +0000http://weblog.akicif.net/SteveBlogger187125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-9063688299364229831Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:32:00 +00002006-11-25T16:33:29.095ZtestHaving made all sorts of changes ('cos of getting a cascade of emailed comment spam this morning), does this still work?http://weblog.akicif.net/2006/11/testing.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-110958395392213420Mon, 28 Feb 2005 09:33:00 +00002005-02-28T09:45:53.923ZI seem to have moved over almost completely to livejournal these days, but I keep finding myself thinking that it's not worth doing an LJ post just to point at a couple of links. Obviously I need a better model for what goes where, but in the meantime, I'm reviving this blog (which I used to use for the longer, less personal, stuff that I don't seem to be writing these days) as a place to put thehttp://weblog.akicif.net/2005/02/not-used-this-for-ages.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-85160868Wed, 27 Nov 2002 14:00:00 +00002003-01-05T17:01:16.000ZNews of the WeirdAgain from the Guardian, Tesco denies using black widow spiders to protect fruit. Tricky stuff, this ecology, you know... Anyway, an eaten grape is a wasted grape. If they'd made wine from them, no-one would ever have known -- unless someone got bit while treading the grapes, that is.http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/11/news-of-weirdagain-from-guardian-tesco.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-85157813Wed, 27 Nov 2002 12:24:00 +00002002-11-27T12:48:28.000ZIf Bush and Bin Laden agree on something, it must be good?Well, no, actually. According to George Galloway writing in the Guardian, an Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq is exactly what ObL needs to stir up more Fear and Loathing. Add in Bush's three witches (Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice) and a bunch of former East-bloc countries dying (or ready to) to prove they deserve to be in NATOhttp://weblog.akicif.net/2002/11/if-bush-and-bin-laden-agree-on.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-83042170Wed, 16 Oct 2002 01:57:00 +00002002-10-16T01:57:35.580ZThey're sheep, I tell youBush and Blair are winning: people here are confused between Iraq, Al-Quaida, and random terrosists. It looks as if the Bali horror has caused more people to be in favour of war with Iraq. Idiots!!!http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/10/theyre-sheep-i-tell-youbush-and-blair.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-81499964Thu, 12 Sep 2002 10:05:00 +00002002-09-12T10:05:53.280ZFrom the Guardian: The music industry versus the net. It is not over yet, says Steve Bowbrick. But he's missing the point. It's not just about the music industry and file sharers, it's the whole digital copyright thing with hardware and software companies ganging up to turn PCs into glorified set-top boxes.http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/09/from-guardian-music-industry-versus.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-80861644Thu, 29 Aug 2002 07:45:00 +00002002-08-29T07:45:49.540ZReturn of Normal ServiceAbout a month after returning from the European trip, I'm finally getting back into the old routine of quickly checking mail and news, doing a spot of browsing, and then some self-training - but I've still to do a complete wipe and reinstall on this machine (it's the general use one, so it needs to stay as a Windows box, but it's been getting somewhat senile lately). http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/08/return-of-normal-serviceabout-month.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-79386742Thu, 25 Jul 2002 10:04:00 +00002002-07-25T10:04:15.350ZDrinks in London, TonightOkay, here's the updated plan. I arrive in Waterloo at 14.43, which is ludicrously early to go to the pub (unless, of course, you know better... ;-). As the reasons for chosing a pub near Waterloo were that I wasn't likely to arrive until the early evening and some folk were going on to events later on (some on the South Bank, making the Waterloo area a natural target)http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/07/drinks-in-london-tonightokay-heres.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-79340714Wed, 24 Jul 2002 09:49:00 +00002002-07-24T09:49:42.066ZDrinks in London on Thursday 25 JulyI'll be back in London tomorrow, and somewhat thirsty with it, so seriously up for beers... Plans are (ahem) fluid at the moment, but it looks as if I'll be at the Jubilee, Waterloo from about 5 (beer, food, cqtching folk who're off to the theatre), moving on across the river for some more serious drinking (suggestions include the glasshouse stores on Brewer http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/07/drinks-in-london-on-thursday-25.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-79254681Mon, 22 Jul 2002 13:31:00 +00002007-10-03T11:31:52.281ZHas it really been more than a week since I last updated this? Let's see now, Sunday was mostly slept through -- never did make it out to another club on Sunday night, Monday was too wet to do much touristy stuff (although I did manage to get up the Fernsehenturm, or TV tower and have a sort of a view), Tuesday was "wander around Berlin taking pictures" before getting a night train to Amsterdam..http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/07/has-it-really-been-more-than-week.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-78940550Sun, 14 Jul 2002 18:13:00 +00002002-07-14T18:13:00.063ZDamn! Blogger's just eaten about a page of update... The weather broke in Prague shortly after I got back to the hostel, with a spectacular thunderstorm -- which seems to have covered most of central Europe. Got to Berlin fairly uneventfully, and crashed out quite early on Thursday before spending much of Friday trying to sort out phone batteries. Big mistake on Friday night: the club near thehttp://weblog.akicif.net/2002/07/damn-bloggers-just-eaten-about-page-of.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-78781655Wed, 10 Jul 2002 16:37:00 +00002002-07-10T16:42:56.000ZChilling in the heatStill in Prague, and it's so hot that I've gone and had a haircut (not brilliant, not extreme, but it cost all of about three euros). Only problem is, I'm now overheated and itchy from the trimmings. Managed a little sightseeing the last few days, but the hostel has a pleasantly cool beer garden with interesting stuff into the small hours (although the new variant on the http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/07/chilling-in-heatstill-in-prague-and.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-78582011Fri, 05 Jul 2002 10:32:00 +00002002-07-05T10:32:09.116ZBloggers' ParadoxWhen there's lots of stuff going on, there's no time to update, and when there's time to update, there's usually not much worth saying. Friday morning of a holiday weekend in Chotebor, a small town in the middle of the Czech Republic, and it's the second full day of the Eurocon. Before that, I spent some days going around Prague with a bunch of other foreign visitors to the http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/07/bloggers-paradoxwhen-theres-lots-of.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-78307654Fri, 28 Jun 2002 11:04:00 +00002002-06-28T11:15:01.000ZNot so wonderful CopenhagenManaged to mess up the Roskilde part of the trip, so am in Copenhagen until it's time to head for Chotebor via Prague for the Eurocon (I'm now going to manage the touristy stuff in Prague). It's not that bad, really, but it's very pricey. Oh, and the more detailed travelling updates are appearing in my Live Journal. By the way, non-LJ members can use the anonymous http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/06/not-so-wonderful-copenhagenmanaged-to.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-78171482Tue, 25 Jun 2002 10:06:00 +00002002-06-25T10:11:17.000ZAbout an hour before my train to London goes, and I'm still finishing up stuff, but now I'm...Off at lastTonight I'm in London, at a hostel near Waterloo, and tomorrow I'm off to Brussels via Eurostar. From there, things are unclear, except that I want to be at Roskilde in Denmark as soon as possible. And here are some links that might help me make this:The German Railways Travel http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/06/about-hour-before-my-train-to-london.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77668862Wed, 12 Jun 2002 21:05:00 +00002002-06-12T21:13:28.000ZThis Land Is My Land is Anna Feruglio Dal Dan's weblog, with a wonderful piece on Padua's Gay Pride Parade which took place on what looks to have been a glorious day weather-wise (there are some great pictures) and in spite of the semi-official sanction offered the Fascist (and for once that word means exactly what it says) counter-demonstrators.http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/06/this-land-is-my-land-is-anna-feruglio.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77668116Wed, 12 Jun 2002 20:47:00 +00002002-06-12T20:47:42.936ZFrom Martin Wisse's Wis[s]e Words comes this piece on the refugee problem. In a footnote, he links to this Guardian article on how little things have changed in Britain since the beginning of the last century.http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/06/from-martin-wisses-wisse-words-comes.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77649763Wed, 12 Jun 2002 11:56:00 +00002002-06-12T11:56:57.843ZIt's a bloody liberty! Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman are conniving at, or at least condoning, a much more massive infringement of civil liberties than anything dreamt of when they were general secretary of the National Council for Civil Liberties (Hewitt), and the NCCL's lawyer (Harman). They should be ashamed of themselves.http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/06/its-bloody-liberty-patricia-hewitt-and.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77602172Tue, 11 Jun 2002 08:23:00 +00002002-06-11T14:14:41.000ZA headline (Government sweeps aside privacy rights) and a leader (British Liberty, RIP) from today's Guardian. It's not just the Police, Intelligence services, and the tax authorities who can get at anyone's telephone and internet communications data without a warrant or court order, but seven Whitehall departments, every local authority in the country, NHS bodies in Scotland and Northern Irelandhttp://weblog.akicif.net/2002/06/headline-government-sweeps-aside.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77176728Fri, 31 May 2002 08:40:00 +00002002-05-31T09:39:48.000ZI'd love to be able to say "I don't be-lieeve it!" to this, but our wonderful MEPs have just voted for Big Brother. Are they completely and utterly barking mad? I'd have thought that, at the very least, their own "enlightened self-interest" would have let them realise that they don't get a free pass from this sort of surveillance. Okay, maybe they can avoid having their dirty laundry washed in http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/05/id-love-to-be-able-to-say-i-dont-be.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77101713Wed, 29 May 2002 14:44:00 +00002002-05-29T14:44:01.280ZPossibly a rather useful site: resourceindex.com? CGI and PHP resources, that is...http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/05/possibly-rather-useful-site.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-77064872Tue, 28 May 2002 15:08:00 +00002002-05-28T15:08:54.376Z"Drugs: legalise, regulate and tax" says the New Statesman, finishing up with this:But if Mr Blunkett cannot be persuaded of its merits, perhaps Gordon Brown can. The drugs market is worth an estimated £6.6bn, all of it at present going into the pockets of criminals. The Chancellor can work out for himself what the duty from a legalised supply would yield, and how many of his public spending http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/05/drugs-legalise-regulate-and-tax-says.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-76655647Fri, 17 May 2002 12:36:00 +00002002-05-22T13:09:49.000ZThis is fun. Short short stories by Michael Swanwick tied to the periodic table of the elements (via Lois Fundis in rec.arts.sf.fandom).I have to say, though, that he's wrong about vanadium. Well, maybe he's right about the element itself. In solution all the oxidation states are different colours, and by chosing your oxidant or reducing agent, you can run them up and down the spectrum. Or maybe http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/05/this-is-fun.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-76617024Thu, 16 May 2002 12:58:00 +00002002-06-12T22:25:57.000ZBye-bye, biometrics. A Japanese cryptographer has demonstrated how fingerprint recognition devices can be fooled using a combination of low cunning, cheap kitchen supplies and a digital camera.UpdateAnd there's even a hack for iris scanners.http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/05/bye-bye-biometrics.htmlStevetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009053.post-76539579Tue, 14 May 2002 16:39:00 +00002002-05-14T16:57:25.000ZOh boy. Upcoming problem for the longest undefended border in the world? The Canadian Senate's Special Committee on Illegal Drugs is looking as if it might be considering treating cannabis more like alcohol or tobacco. And what's more, they're asking the electorate [NB word document!].(via James "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a http://weblog.akicif.net/2002/05/oh-boy.htmlSteve