Category Archives: Writing

Writing

Stupid CNN

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Clicking on the video link on this article I get a pop up that says (in an image, just to make it even dumber):

Dumb CNN Plugin Image

In text, it says:

PLUGIN WARNING

The CNN.com video experience is optimized for Windows Media Player 9 or above.

No Windows Media Player detected

They also give you a “GET THE PLAYER” link to click on and when I do, the Microsoft site helpfully tells me that:

Your operating system is not currently supported by Windows Media Player.

What a suprise.. I’ve sent a whinge to CNN to ask them to fix this bug and support more video codecs – be interesting to see what (if anything) happens..

Upgraded to PHP5

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I’ve taken the plunge and upgraded Apache to use PHP5 (with mod-fcgid) and so far the only casualty has been Rich Boakes’s Most Wanted plugin (so if anyone has any PHP5 foo to spare, could they point it in Rich’s direction please ?)

The only other issue was with wp-cache 2.0 which needed this little tweak by Kelson to fix the “odd blank screen bug” properly.

Now if only I could figure out how to get stattraq to play nicely with wp-cache all would be good..

RIP Scott Crossfield – First Man to Fly at Mach 2

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The BBC is reporting that Scott Crossfield (84) has been killed flying a single engined aircraft in the US. He was the first person to fly at twice the speed of sound in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, the only time that particular aircraft did so (they’d had to specially tweak it):

In addition to adding the nozzle extensions, the NACA flight team at the HSFRS chilled the fuel (alcohol) so more could be poured into the tank and waxed the fuselage to reduce drag. With these preparations and employing a flight plan devised by project engineer Herman O. Ankenbruck to fly to an altitude of approximately 72,000 feet and push over into a slight dive, Crossfield made aviation history on November 20, 1953, when he flew to Mach 2.005 (1,291 miles per hour). He became the first pilot to reach Mach 2 in this, the only flight in which the Skyrocket flew that fast.

Leon Brooks is back!

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Well well, less than 2 months ago I wrote:

Leon, I hope you make a speedy and thorough recovery. Get well soon.

Well, check this out, here’s Leon’s first blog post since the accident! Leon – you are amazing!

My brain is now essentially OK — modulo some bits of Short Term Memory killled by the total loser’s antics — and the body is steadily rebuilding, so I do have a viable future as this develops.

The most disturbing part of it is that the subtext of his post implies that the “accident” was anything but – he writes:

I truly have ZERO appreciation for a selfish waste of space and oxygen who hurts people for the hell of it, including that it had already hurt several others before applying it’s stupid malice to me.

Sometimes I despair for humanity, but then people like Leon come along and give me some hope. Leon – it is so good to see you back in the virtual world again – keep fighting!

Venus Express Telemetry is Good!

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The last piece of the puzzle is in, the ESA have confirmed that they have telemetry from Venus Express and have held a press conference to announce everything looks A-OK with the spacecraft. Congratulations to all involved!

Emily quotes Don McCoy, Venus Express Project Manager saying:

In fact we have quite a bit margin of fuel on board. We allocate extra fuel for a bad launch, for maneuvers on route, [and everything was nominal] so we probably have enough fuel to do the extended mission, and quite frankly I think we could do another one after that. We have enough fuel for 4 and a half to 6 years.

This could be a really interesting mission..

Venus Express Arrives!

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The Planetary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla is reporting from Darmstadt that the European Space Agency’s Venus Express is in orbit!

She does sound one note of caution though, saying:

while the S-band signal has indicated that the spacecraft has shut down its main engine properly, it does not yet indicate the full health of the spacecraft; that will only happen at 11:13 local time, when (if) they detect the X-band signal from the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna.

So congratulations on getting there, and here’s hoping the spacecraft reports it is in good shape!

Skokholm Island Bought By Welsh Wildlife Trusts

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Here’s some nice news, the small island of Skokholm has been bought by The Wildlife Trusts who have been managing it for the past 50 years, on behalf of the Dale Caste Estate who owned it since 1646. Because of this long involvement the trusts were given preferred buyer status by the trustees of the estate after the death of Mrs Osra Lloyd-Philipps (1920-2005).

Also see the information about the Skomer, Skokholm and Midland Island nature reserves.

White House Admits Bush “Leaked” Intelligence

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OK – so now they’re arguing about whether it was really a “leak” if the president ordered that classified information be released. Their spokesman said:

Because of the public debate that was going on and some of the wild accusations that were flying around at the time, we felt it was very much in the public interest that what information could be declassified and that’s exactly what we did.

Common Sense Rules in UK Book Copyright Case

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Hooray, it appears that the law and common sense has triumphed in the case of Baigent & Leigh versus The Random House Group Limited over the fiction work “The Da Vinci Code“. From the judgement:

2.1 Holy Blood Holy Grail does not have a Central Theme as contended by the Claimants: it was an artificial creation for the purposes of the litigation working back from the Da Vinci Code.

and

2.3 Even if the Central Themes were copied they are too general or of too low a level of abstraction to be capable of protection by copyright law.