[why not] they laughed at noah

Longrider poses the question:

Here’s an easy question. What do the following have in common - people on housing benefit, people getting child benefit, people wanting to be RAF pilots or Royal Marines, people in hospital and people learning to drive? The answer is that they have all had their personal details lost through government incompetence. And here’s another question. With the national database for ID cards looming, just how much do you trust the government to keep your identity details safe?

Right - so we're not in disagreement over the incompetence but the level of it raises other questions. It's so regularly revealed to the media and they so public pronounce on it with handwringing aqpology that surely one's suspicions are aroused. All public sectors have levels of incompetence but this seems almost to have been orchestrated.

Now what could be a possible reason for this? Perhaps that the people are so sick and tired of it that they throw out the corrupt, self-serving, incompetent bastards and usher in the new slick, efficient EUmodel which looks after the common person's interests with the only drawback being the little chip in the right wrist.

Why not? They laughed at Noah. Time will tell.

[russia] some myths and misinterpretations

Just ran the Dmitri Panov piece past our new Deputat, home from Moscow for a few days.

Predictably, as a former trade minister and now special adviser on trade to the Gosduma, he took exception to some aspects and I'd like to summarize some of his main points from today.

1. That the Russian mentality is historically as different to the western as is the Chinese.

The Deputat disagrees and says that since 1998, great strides have taken place in 'rethinking' Russia's place in the world economy and putting Russia on a stable economic footing. There are western aspects to people's thinking now which might not have been there earlier. To that end, the probable new president is committed to this new Yedinaya Rossiya mentality, as are most of the newer deputats. A lot of people have done a lot of work trying to restructure the Russian economy to perform more effectively on the world stage and negative stereotypes are therefore ultimately counter-productive.

2. Russia has a different concept of democracy to the west's.

To an extent that's true. There is historical local colour in the complex relations between the different nationalities represented in the RF and these require balance. As yet, this country cannot adopt the parliamentary system of, say, Britain because it has a Tsarist tradition and the decades of Communism.

It has to be introduced carefully to allow the people time to adjust to the new realities and the infrastructure must move with each introduced change. Wholesale change too quickly resulted in 1998 and no one wants that to occur ever again, particularly given the western troubles about to bite over there.

So a reserved stance is necessary - watching, evaluating and deciding how much to introduce and how soon. These are not blandishments and you need to be in here at governmental level to understand what really is on the drawing board. Therefore it's unfortunate the way sections of the western media rush to the most negative assessment so quickly. It was particularly impressed on me today that Russia does listen to the criticisms and weighs them up - there is no collective blindness here - but it makers its decisions based on national interest nonetheless.

3. Russia has a newly aggressive stance towards the west [not specifically in the Panov article].

Just as in the west, there are hawks and doves and shades of opinion and there is most certainly a desire for Russia to be taken more seriously on the world stage - almost all are agreed on this - and trade delegations ffom here will continue to push Russian interests as you'd expect they would. But the prospect of a new cavalier attitude and a newly aggressive policy is not a general stance - where it has been highly publicized by the media, it's been more a case of stonewalling specific things certain countries are doing inside Europe to destabilize the sphere adjacent to Russia.

The overall mood and one even agreed by Mr. Zhirinovsky and other hardliners, is that Russia is a major player and cold war tactics have no place in where this country is going. Trade is the new language of diplomacy when it is allowed to breathe and not misrepresented.

[globalization rocks] according to broony

Well, no debate necessary any more about what Gordon's masters are up to:

In a keynote speech in New Delhi, the prime minister said it was time to build a "new global society".Mr Brown also called for greater international cooperation in the battle against terrorism to "ensure that there is no hiding place for terrorists".

No hiding place for dissenters, he means of course. Bloggers get ready - you are the insurgents of the web and a nice gurney, replete with electrodes, awaits you. Correct thinking will be ensured.

Also, ever wonder who Gordon sees as the leader of the new global society? Djwahl Kuhl perhaps? Or him-glorious-self? Oh, worship the Broon.

Do you detect a slight negativity in today's posts? Got out of bed on the wrong side.

[round the world] record smashed

Joyon's IDEC II

Exciting news not just for the yachties:

Frenchman Francis Joyon [51] has smashed Ellen MacArthur's solo round-the-world record by more than 14 days, finishng his circumnavigation in 57 days, 13 hours 34 minutes and six seconds to beat MacArthur's mark set in 2005.

He set off from Brest on 23 November and crossed the finish line on Sunday. MacArthur [31] congratulated Joyon but has not ruled out trying to reclaim the record one day saying "records are set to be broken".

But the 31-year-old confirmed any attempt would not be launched in the next year because she was already committed to other projects.

Apparently, Ms MacArthur was at the finish line to greet him and that's the thing in this sport - the camaraderie, even when there's rivalry. In my own racing days years ago, we'd fight tooth and nail and then have a hot tea together later in the clubhouse and analyse the whole thing.

Perfect example is the Little America's Cup for C Class catamarans - the racing was fierce but the camaraderie amazing, even down to the winning crew inviting the others to have a sail on their boat. The only other sport I know where we'd try to knock the other's block off and then have a meal together is Rugby Union.

Contrast that with the America's Cup itself which is marred by protests, underhanded tactics and obscene amounts of money. Of course, this description fits The Money perfectly so we know with whom we're dealing in that situation.

Leaving that aside, it is exciting though and raises the question of whether people should attempt these things or else spend it on education and social services.

C Class Catamaran Cogito

One other small matter is that what I've done in this post might be seen as precisely what I was moaning about here. Oh well, I plead guilty.

[hillary] heart skipped a beat

Just checked BBC News and it was like the heart momentarily stopped:

Mourners pay respects to Hillary

Don't tell me! It's not possible. Clinton dead and the world spared. But no, it was not to be:

Hundreds of people file past the casket of Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary, ahead of his state funeral.

Oh well. Don't get the idea I want the Lizard Queen dead - no, no. Not at all. Not any way. I'd like Obama or someone to beat her after the MLK jibes but still ....

Now, as for the real Hillary, Sir Edmund - well, a great man indeed but he'd had a good innings.

[not dormant] just preoccupied

Sorry for the lack of posts and lack of visiting. The whole of the first book is being rewritten and though it uses great slabs of text from the original, it needs linking sections and that's what I've been up to. A professional writer can split his attention two ways but I can't do that, so it has to be one or the other just now. Plan to blog tomorrow.

[diabetes] most certainly there's hope

We all feel that little bit more mortal when one of our own, so to speak, develops a medical condition and the words 'there but for the Grace of G-d' spring to the lips.

Diabetes is, to me, worse than cancer because cancer is a release sooner or later. I wouldn't wish either onto my worst enemy. The worst I'd wish onto an enemy is want of friends. There is most certainly hope, for example with statin drugs, tweaking of ordinary adult cells in the pancreas so they become insulin-producing beta cells, iron-based 'magnetocapsules' of insulin-producing cells and so on and so on.

There is hope.

I don't know why I fear diabetes so, having seen my father succumb to emphazema and hepatitis and my mother to chronic bronchitis and asthma and yet I do fear it. Medical opinion on me is currently that I should fear more for the heart, in more ways than one.

I have no doubt that Iain will face this thing stoically and that all that can be done will be done. Crazy thing to say but better now than fifteen years earlier - there's a better chance now of getting back to that normal life.

[unsung blogs] talent largely undiscovered

Disclaimer: the following post makes no reference to this blog in any shape or form. The author is not referring to himself at any stage of the proceedings in any category below nor is he fishing. He'd vastly prefer the issue itself to be addressed.

You know that Blogpower was originally designed to promote and support new blogs and the assumption was - blogs of quality. Speaking of quality in a blog, one might just as well speak of defining love. What on earth does it mean?

The blogs which survive seem to have an angle, a manner of writing which is fresh and the output is fairly constant. The blog is fun to visit and we want to return to see what he or she's posted next. We feel we "know" the author. Despite his many detractors, Iain Dale deserves his place at the top for his constant output and consistency. The angle and the scoop are his thing.

Some blogs, as everyone knows, are whatever the current jargon is for non-blogs, i.e. offshoot blogs from a previous project or special, slick sites with poor navigation and transparency which disguise an already established pundit who wishes to try a new project out on a new readership.

Having said all that, it's always been a source of wonder to me how one or two major blogs, which will remain unnamed, are lauded and repeatedly visited, when all they are is news commentary, with the occasional original angle, on the Telegraph, Guardian or Washington Post. They read the papers as we read the papers and then rattle something off on the story of the day, as we also do.

A news story breaks, they comment in their blog with fairly constant typos and that's it. Few graphics, no originality and yet they get upwards of two thousand readers a day. It has to be that they are so prolific or else they're seen as good guys by a section of the sphere. Or else they have kudos in some other sphere, e.g. the MSM or in IT. Who knows?

Don't get me wrong here - there are some fabulous exponents of the art. Some simply rise above the rest, such as Mr. Eugenides, bloggers who really do have the talent to not only see the more ridiculous aspects of the news but can write them up as well.

Then there are the blogs where the personality of the blogger seems to be the thing because the actual output is nothing more than what he did last week or else tits and bums. These guys get mega-readerships and good luck to them.

The blogs which concern me most are those with either true talent or something that little bit different about them and they don't receive their due. Not only that but they're too modest to shamelessly promote themselves. One of these is Ruthie Zaftig and another is The Broadsheet Rag. A more established blogger with a steady readership is Longrider who should be up in the mega-class. Now I don't know what their stats are but I'm willing to bet that the stats are infinitely inferior to the quality of the blog.

It amazes me that they don't enjoy greater kudos in the sphere. I know they have loyal readerships but that's not what I'm referring to. I mean a mass readership. Perhaps TBR could be a bit more transparent - the "About" says almost nothing and it's nice to know at least something of the author. [I do know one or two things but not openly.]

In the end, there are just too many blogs and trying to seek out the good ones is a largely hit or miss affair. If only there was some way for true talent to naturally gravitate to the top - some sort of mechanism to enable that. This "mechanism" is something very much running through the mind at this point in time.

[new mac] vulnerable or not

It's hard to know whom to believe. First I read this report on MacOS vulnerability, claiming that he:

...used vulnerability statistics from an impartial third party vendor Secunia and I broke them down by Windows XP flaws, Vista flaws, and Mac OS X flaws...

Then there was a rebuttal, going into everything from the antecedents of George Ou and ZD net to the nature of Secunia data in the first place. As author Daniel Dilger concluded:

I should point out that I’m not attempting to suggest that Apple has no flaws, cannot possibly deliver problematic software, or can’t improve in its efforts.

There are fairly well documented problems with Safari, Bluetooth, Apple Mail and even the Finder system. Many have read of the hacker who took over a Mini in 30 minutes. So yes, Mac users should not be complacent.

But it would be lovely to see a bit of impartial reporting from someone not in either camp. Meanwhile, the Mac continues as a lovely system to work with and as I become more Mac literate, new vistas open up. One of my favouites is using both hands to execute commands and then voice commands to switch applications.

If I want to play a playlist, I just say "Music" and when it opens, name a playlist and then say "Play". Quite nice if I'm in the middle of typing this.

[broon] executed in tibet

As Broony's double landed at Beijing International Airport, to be greeted by Wen Jiabao and President Hu doubles and driven the 25.35 km to Tiananmen Square for a good laugh at democracy, the real perpetrators were being Virginned to Lhasar Gonggar and from there by cablecar to the remote mountaintop Temple of Djwal Kuhl.

Grand Master Wu, of the Tian Di Hui ordered Broony to be placed in the centre of the square in white robes and the ancient and honourable servants of Sun Yee On, Wo Shing Wo, 14K knelt menacingly in rows, awaiting the ordeal.

A robed Red Pole read out the charge:

In an article on the Number 10 website, you wrote: "I believe that with the right help we will have a situation by 2025 where the number of English speakers in China exceeds the number of speakers of English as a first language in all of the rest of the world."

Gasps went round the assembled multitude. Had Broony actually uttered such inanities, when all supreme, enlightened, occult ancients present this day were well aware of the coming hegemony of the new Sun Zi Dynasty and its brother dynasty the Round Table of Europe, which had given Broony his start.

The executioner stepped quickly up behind Broony and at a signal from Wu, the war sword severed his head, which rolled onto the flagstones. All present gave the three finger left handed salute and honour had been satisifed.