| Monday 28th November 2005 22:16CST | → 0 Comments |
Terry has the flu and is dosed up with just about every cold/flu medicine going. It’s made him quite miserable as he has to stay indoors all day. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I get it.
The European Union’s top justice official has warned that any EU state found to have hosted a secret CIA jail could have its voting rights suspended. I would prefer the countries to be kicked out and/or their government leaders prosecuted. You can insert my previous comment about governments selling out their citizens here a second time.
Now read about 18 Tricks to Teach Your Body.
| Tuesday 22nd November 2005 20:15CST | → 0 Comments |
Mother has gone home and had a fun time. I’ll put up the Chihuly pictures from Kew sometime soon.
EU-US air data accord under legal threat. This was no surprise and even less of a surprise are the claims of chaos in transatlantic air travel. It was obvious that handing over personal details including credit card numbers was blatently against EU data protection laws. The Commission and member states agreed to it because they were threatened by the US, who said “Give us this data or else no flights”. Thus, they were forced to break their own laws in the face of such bullying. If only all 15/25 countries had stood firm, said no and threatened to block reciprocal flights would the US have backed down. Instead they became cowards and sold out their own citizens. Sickening.
Advocate-General’s opinion is here.
| Wednesday 16th November 2005 22:33CST | → 0 Comments |
My mother’s coming to stay tomorrow for a few days. As I’ll be working on Friday, Terry will entertain her that day (probably shopping and lunch in the centre of town). On Saturday we’re planning to visit Kew Gardens, ostensibly to see the Chihuly sculptures.
I’ve also become a member of Liberty. Timely, if this story of a mass surveillance network for drivers has any truth in it. It explains why I’m also a member of Amnesty. After all, if politicians accept the police are always right and give them everything they want then why bother with criminal trials? Why not just imprison people immediately the police declare them guilty? It’s called a police state and you could find yourself in one if you don’t pay attention.
The
European Flag is fifty years old. I have one on my wall because I find its visual design a simple but beautiful motif.
| Saturday 12th November 2005 16:52CST | → 0 Comments |
More long gaps - I’ve having too much fun while Terry’s around.
We’ve agreed to go to the company Christmas party, having OK’d that with the boss (i.e. the risks of taking a same-sex partner). Actually she was fine with idea - to the extent of almost saying “… and why do you think there would be a problem?”. What enlightened times we live in. However, despite transport being laid on, I think I’ll drive there so we can leave at a time of our choosing - most likely before too much drink is consumed by others and there is a greater potential for more embarassing comments to be made at/about us, which I also raised with her.
This morning we went shopping in Godalming where, amongst other things, I bought Terry a beautiful original glass ‘Nougat’ bowl made by an artist called Wil Shakspeare from the Apple Gallery. He’s treating it as an early Christmas present.
| Sunday 6th November 2005 11:47CST | → 0 Comments |
Yesterday we were at Cambio Restaurant in Guildford with Denise and Daryl for Terry’s birthday meal. It’s supposedly the best restaurant in town so we dressed up for the occasion. Enjoyable.
Afterwards we went to the top of Bright Hill to watch fireworks from all around, it being Bonfire Night.
Good comment piece in The Observer about the proposed anti-terror laws and how the government is trying to force them through against all criticism. The bit at the end sums up my feelings completely:
Blair is, without doubt, the most authoritarian leader we have had in the last century. In assuming powers beyond those taken by any other peacetime Prime Minister, he is attacking rights which have stood for hundreds of years. We can only hope that last week’s rebellion on the anti-terrorism bill is a sign of things to come. MPs of all hues now have a grave responsibility. They are the stewards of our democracy and they should damn well start behaving like it.
| Saturday 5th November 2005 11:42CST | → 0 Comments |
When I went a-wandering around Box Hill, I made a point of marking waypoints on my GPS receiver. Until recently they had just sat there unused until I discovered Google Maps had an API. So, I pulled the co-ordinates off in WGS84 lats/longs and embedded them in a page with some Javascript and let the API do the rest and here is the result. It certainly seemed to impress everyone at work (especially Graham). Don’t forget to look at the source to see how little code there actually is.
I also hacked together a bit of AJAX, just to prove I could, that returns the first diary entry containing a search term (single separated word). AJAX is starting to suffer a backlash and is in serious danger of being subsumed by the hype machine that is Web two point oh. However, I think it’s the first tangible, non-proprietry and universal step towards making web use a truely rich interface. Down with the ‘back’ button!
This article may give a hint to all religious types what atheists really think but are too nice to say. Beware: not for the faint-hearted as it contains extreme levels honesty and logic. This bit at the end is my favourite:
Learn the real nature of our universe and put aside old wives tales about resurrected Gods, omniscient prophets and a guy who could split the Red Sea but couldn’t find where he’s going in the desert for forty years.
| Wednesday 2nd November 2005 14:30CST | → 0 Comments |
Terry has arrived and gone straight to bed, which is usually what I do when I go to see him. In fact, one transatlantic flight usually takes me two days to recover from.
It’s also his birthday today.
I also notice that some spammer is using the dreamfish.org.uk domain in their From: field, meaning I’ve been getting loads of rejected mail notifications. Hopefully I won’t be on the receiving end of complaints, angry DOS counter-attacks or people complaining to my hosting provider. So, for all who came here looking for a fight - it’s not me.
… and a book arrived today: Your Rights: The Liberty Guide to Human Rights, as published by Liberty.
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