01.10.08
Technologies which DO NOT WORK AT ALL IN ANY WAY, NOT EVEN ONCE, NEVER
There are certain technologies which have been rolled out on a massive scale, but which (at least for me) either DO NOT WORK AT ALL IN ANY WAY, NOT EVEN ONCE, NEVER or are quite obviously completely unuseable. I'm thinking in particular of:
* Windows is searching for a solution to your problem...
*Windows is looking for drivers online...
*Multimedia Messaging (MMS) (Europe) - I have spent days trying to set it up and have only ever received one successfully in my life and that was from identical phone to identical phone on the same network provider.
*Video calls on a cellphone (would anyone want to use that on a cellphone anyway?)
*Chat on a cellphone
I'm interested to know if anyone else had the same experience with these or other technologies and if so, what they think can be the explanation for a company rolling out a technology which so patently does not work.
Posted by Giles at 13:04 | Comments (0)
29.09.08
How an Italian judge made the internet illegal
More backward politics in Italy: Italian Law Kills Blog
Posted by Giles at 11:45 | Comments (1)
15.09.08
Zimbabwe deal
Negotiations on the future of Zimbabwe have just ended in the signing of a deal which gives the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai - the real winner of the recent elections - the post of prime minister. The presidency, head of state and control of the army are retained by Robert Mugabe, who:
- Killed more than 20,000 Ndebele in the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland.
- LOST the most recent election despite extreme physical intimidation of the electorate in this and previous elections.
- Arrested opposition MPs since the last election.
- Used the army to intimidate any previous opposition members
- Made Zimbabwe, a country rich in natural resources and human resourcefulness into the country with the highest inflation rate in the world and 80% unemployment, due to his corrupt mis-management of the economy.
Am I missing something (maybe it really is the only way for Tsavangirai to get some form of power) or is this not a little unfair? Will the leopard really change his spots if he is allowed to retain such power? Who will control the funds allocated to the army? Will the next election be truly fair and free from violence?
Posted by Giles at 21:31 | Comments (0)
New placebo findings question double blind tests
"An ineffective drug can be better than a placebo in a standard trial" according to a paper by Paul Enck, Fabrizio Benedetti, Manfred Schedlowski - and "Often, an active drug is not better than placebo in a standard trial, even when we can be confident that the active drug does work,"
Double blind tests are supposed to show whether a drug really works, or whether it is just down to the placebo effect because neither the researcher nor the test subject knows they are taking the drug.
This paper totally discounts this methodology because it shows that the very fact of BEING TOLD you are taking a drug has an effect on whether it works or not. The researchers tested a painkiller called a CCK-antagonist, first in a standard double-blind randomised controlled trial. The CCK-antagonist performed better than the placebo. So the CCK-antagonist must be an effective painkiller, right? But when the same drug was given to volunteers without telling them, it had no effect. If it was a real painkiller, there should be no difference compared to the test where subjects are told what they are taking. But if you don't tell people, the CCK-antagonist is ineffective in relieving pain.
So it seems some drugs only have an effect IN CONJUNCTION with expectation. Interesting stuff...
Posted by Giles at 21:20 | Comments (0)
13.09.08
Italy returns to the middle ages
An Italian comedienne who said that Pope Benedict XVI would go to Hell and be tormented by homosexual demons is facing a prison term of up to five years.
Posted by Giles at 14:59 | Comments (1)
04.09.08
Face recognition comes to the web
Posted by Giles at 14:46 | Comments (0)
03.09.08
The scandal of birth in Greece
90% of women with children who have given birth in Greece (at least the ones I meet) have had a Cesarian. Why is this?
1. Doctors get more money for it
2. Doctors can have a regular predictable schedule
Here are some tactics they use:
1. Scaring women and blackmailing them with - what if your baby dies stories.
2. Doctor sees woman in before due-date and says - hey where's the baby - it's late - aren't you worried - I think we'd better induce it. Doctor gives woman drug (or maybe a placebo - this is pure conspiracy theory) to induce baby. Baby doesn't come so doctor says - oh dear - we have to do a cesarian.
3. Creating a culture where that is the done thing because it is more convenient.
On top of that, they:
1. Make it difficult for fathers to accompany their partners during the birth - you have to make a fuss to be allowed in.
2. Take the baby away almost immediately it is born and put it, screaming in a room with loads of other babies, away from its mother in it during the crucial first day of its life. Mother's breast milk then does not come and - oh mother has to buy formula milk.
3. Do not allow older children into the hospital to visit the mother/new child, because they have some strange infectious disease which adults apparently do not have.
Posted by Giles at 09:00 | Comments (1)
11.08.08
Wiki-fu
A new word meaning competence in using wikis - nice!
Example usage: "Oh dear, I screwed the wiki - apologies - my Wiki-Fu is not up to scratch."
Posted by Giles at 16:26 | Comments (2)
26.07.08
Sexist Nursery Rhymes - sexism against men cont'd
You've all heard of the feminist PC attacks on Nursery Rhymes. You might not have noticed a spate of overtly sexist nursery rhymes aimed at the guys. (This is a continuation of my post on Sexism against men). I came across this one for example - published by Marks and Spencer, (First Readers Series). The 3 little pigs - 2 brothers and a sister. The brothers screw up by building their houses out of straw, and the sister builds hers out of bricks. While the brothers are cowering in a corner, the sister then cooks up cauldron under the chimney. The big bad wolf is also male.
"Once upon a time there were three
little pigs who lived in the woods
There were two *brothers* and a *sister*
A big bad wolf [Male] lived in the woods
....
The third little pig walked on.
*She* saw a pile of bricks.
'I'll build a strong house with
bricks,' said the third little pig...
...
*Her* brothers laughed at *her* for working so
hard. ...
The very next day the big bad wolf
called at the house of straw. *He* was
dressed as an old woman
The first two little pigs were very scared. But the third little pig made a big fire under the chimney. Then *she* put a big pot of water on the fire....
Etc...."
Then there's this one: the paper bag princess.
Princess Elizabeth was planning on marrying Prince Ronald, who was practically perfect. Then along came a dragon, who destroyed her kingdom, kidnapped Ronald, and burned all her clothes so that she had no choice but to wear a paper bag. She tracked down and outwitted the dragon. She challenged the dragon to burn forests with fire and to fly around the world. The dragon completes the tasks but after flying around the world a second time becomes tired and falls asleep. Elizabeth then saves Ronald. He didn't even thank her and told her to come back to marry him when she looked more princessy. Then Elizabeth realized what a bum Ronald was, and went off to live her own life.
Here's another one - perhaps the worst IMO. I've tried reading it to my daughter with the genders switched and it feels bad...:
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!"
Posted by Giles at 15:18 | Comments (0)
05.07.08
Zimbabwe evidence
What a brave guy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/04/zimbabwe1
I don't know if there's anything any other country can do without just making it worse, but I hope someone will be able to help these guys.
Posted by Giles at 09:44 | Comments (1)
16.04.08
China Again
You only have to look at their bank notes to realise why they still get the Gold Medal for totalitarian politics. Who is on the front of the Yuan - you guessed it - mass-murderer, megalomaniac, worse than Hitler-and-Stalin-put-together-man who was responsible for the deaths of 70 million chinese and many more outside china - Mao Tse Tung. 
.
He also has his portrait in the heart of China - Tianenmen Square.
If you are in doubt about the kind of person China still looks up to as a mentor, please read Mao, the unknown story
The fact that one even has to point this out is truly incredible. Imagine if one had to point out that Pol Pot shouldn't be on bank notes.
** Update - things are looking up. China issues new bank notes without Mao.
Posted by Giles at 10:08 | Comments (2)