| Saturday 31st July 2004 8:29CDT | → 0 Comments |
Something must be wrong when I’m up and moving before 9am on a Saturday. I’m recovering from a wierd and oft recurring dream about being back at my sixth-form college but not knowing which class I’m supposed to be in and not having done any work for most of the year. I don’t know what the interpretation is supposed to be - the particular task in hand at work is on track and being managed almost entirely by me so it’s not that. Maybe it’s stored up guilt over how I never did any maths homework in my last year.
I’ve been invited to a middle-class hetro fest wedding in October. It’s one of my friends from University and I expect others to be there, probably with spouses and children in tow. I seem to be the only one who’s become more independent and radical with age. One thing about being gay is you have a head-start when it comes to escaping the middle class horror.
| Friday 30th July 2004 17:23CDT | → 0 Comments |
Spent most of today moving stuff to the new office, which is only only the ground floor, so I’m knackered. The move continues on Monday when IT infrastructure is reconnected in the new place. A lot of stuff was being thrown out and I bagged myself a Sun Type 5 keyboard, which has a considerable number of extraneous keys that I hope to re-program via xmodmap. However, I’m still trying to get some of the normal keys to work. So far, Control_L refuses to map to the control key and prefers to remain attached to Caps Lock. A crash course in the mysteries of Unix keyboards seems to be necessary.
One other thing to mention about that story I mentioned previously. As those bringing the case are Iraqi citizens, as they seem to be, then they can’t bring to case to the European Court of Human Rights as the right of individual petition is open only to citizens of signatory countries.
| Wednesday 28th July 2004 20:51CDT | → 0 Comments |
Bf has managed to arrange some travel insurance for his three-month visit, and it’s a lot lower than either of us expected: $345. I had visions of it being in the thousands.
In the news today was a court case regarding British soldiers torturing Iraqi civilians, where the families are claiming the soldiers are subject to the 1998 Human Rights Act. From the article:
But lawyers… say the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into UK domestic law, can only be applied inside UK territory.
.. which is the crux of the case. However, one issue that has either been missed or just not mentioned is that theoretically the soldiers are covered directly by the Convention itself. Article 1 of the convention states:
The High Contracting Parties shall secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in Section I of this Convention. (my emphasis)
… and from the European Court’s 1995 judgement of Loizidou vs Turkey the judges concluded:
Bearing in mind the object and purpose of the Convention, the responsibility of a Contracting Party may also arise when as a consequence of military action - whether lawful or unlawful - it exercises effective control of an area outside its national territory. The obligation to secure, in such an area, the rights and freedoms set out in the Convention derives from the fact of such control whether it be exercised directly, through its armed forces, or through a subordinate local administration.
Fortunately I have access to High Court judgements through Lawtel. I’ll be interested to read the outcome - not only it could have quite significant repercussions but I’ll be looking to see if they pick up on my above point, o amateur that I am!
| Tuesday 27th July 2004 22:22CDT | → 0 Comments |
Bf sent me a picture of a lesbian couple, who are friends of his, that cycle around Madison on customised tricycles with pride flags attached. I met them while I was there but forgot to get a snap. The picture looks a little distorted as I tried to avoid it being whited-out by the flash.
| Monday 26th July 2004 22:16CDT | → 0 Comments |
I’m a bit miffed with the Open University as the material for my forthcoming course won’t arrive until only two weeks before the start date, meaning there is no time to ‘get ahead’ as those of us who work often struggle to find quality time and that was the downfall of my previous course. At least this time I won’t end up being sent on secondment to Sweden half way through (or at least I hope not).
The Tate has an archive of webcasts from various events and interviews. I shall be trundling through these in due course (wish the quality was better though).
Press any key.
| Sunday 25th July 2004 13:42CDT | → 0 Comments |
Going back on the diet tomorrow, which I sort of half abandonded some time before visiting bf, and abandonded completely when I was there (though I did get better eats). Surprisingly my weight isn’t significantly higher which is both good, as some of my apparent weight gain is psychological, and bad, as it might mean I’ve reach some sort of default weight and may be stuck with it. Ack!
Bf is going to speak to the AIDS Network in Madison to see if they can recommend any travel insurance for people with AIDS who don’t happen to be millionaires.
In the meantime, a colleague at work told me about PhotoBox where you upload an image and they send you not only prints but put it onto just about anything else you might imagine. I’ve ordered a set of postcards with Alex on them which I’ll send to bf.
Kerry has stopped going thru the roof and started a cycle ride for charity. More accurately, she is in training and will actually start it on 18th October.
| Saturday 24th July 2004 10:49CDT | → 0 Comments |
Latest browser statistics, as culled from my log data:
Microsoft Internet Explorer: 65.1%
Netscape Navigator: 18.8%
Mozilla: 5.2%
Firebird/Firefox: 4.7%
Safari: 2.8%
Konqueror: 1.4%
Links/Lynx: 1.3%
Opera: 0.7%
Galeon: 0.1%
I’m only approximately sure of the accuracy. Either that or the popularity of IE is starting to wane.
| Friday 23rd July 2004 20:20CDT | → 0 Comments |
I’ve subscribed to European Voice (at a discount with a coupon in the back of the book Europe Recast) as there’s no-where in the UK media you can find honest reporting on the EU. The Guardian may not be negative in its coverage but certainly goes for a snide angle. The BBC is very much a lost cause, especially any news programme on Radio 4.
Found through Slashdot (horror of horrors) is W3C’s FAQ on migrating from HTML to XHTML, which is something I plan to do, the stages being:
HTML 4.01 Transitional -> HTML 4.01 Strict -> XHTML Basic 1.0
I’m already at stage one (fully compliant too!).
Police allowed to keep DNA of innocent people. The danger here is that the Police, that far from incorruptible group, will concentrate on putting forward DNA as evidence and scale back their investigations that could uncover other, corroborating details. Your DNA is found near the scene of a supposed crime - Bzzt, you’re guilty! Thank you for playing. Given the possibilities of contamination of samples and the potential for errors on the Police National Computer (that we’re not allowed to challenge), those wrongly charged may have a hell of a time clearing themselves. See also the analysis in Spy Blog.
| Wednesday 21st July 2004 22:09CDT | → 0 Comments |
As suspected, Fahrenheit 911 started off as a documentary, turned into pure polemic half way through and ended as a rant. However, it was thought provoking but I feel it would hit home more in the USA as most of the points made were known or covered in the media here, whereas it is more likely to be a revelation to those who only watch Fox News.
I’m writing a document registration system for the intranet at work. It’s in PHP but I don’t have access to a database (or SQLite) so I’m having to do some nifty data handling with flat files. To attempt to emulate the use of tables, I read the whole data file into an array and let the array functions do most of the work - effectively the PHP equivalent of “Kill ‘em all and let God sort it out”.
At last I have a name for it - I suffer from Photic Sneeze Reflex.
| Tuesday 20th July 2004 20:41CDT | → 0 Comments |
A news item on BBC Broadband News about the opening session of the enlarged European Parliament, which had the usual pseudo-negative overtones and concentrated more on UKIP than anyone else, included an interview with a UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom who said, and I quote:
No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age.
… but quickly added:
That isn’t politically correct, is it? It’s a fact of life. I know, because I run a business.
I wonder how many women who voted for him know this?
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