NOV 05
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Didn’t Sophia Loren wear turtlenecks * ?
New research from Lawrence University in Wisconsin has come to a revealing conclusion regarding the way women’s dress-style could ( maybe) affect their work prospects.
According to the students who did the ‘evaluations’ for the experiment -
“ a sexy [ female] manager was viewed as less competent as compared to her neutrally attired/more typically professionally dressed counterpart ( wearing flat shoes, slacks, and a turtleneck ) “
In other words, female managers could be better off dressing ‘ professionally ‘ whereas those in say, secretarial roles can wear what they like – it won’t affect their ‘competence rating’ ( by students ) one way or the other.
The research results are published in the December issue of ‘ Psychology of Women Quarterly ‘
Abstract here ; ( full version $37.42 plus tax )
The lead author of the study, Prof. Peter Glick, is famous for coining the phrase ‘ Ambivalent Sexism ’ back in the 1990’s.
‘ Ambivalent Sexism ’ “ - asserts that not just hostile, but subjectively benevolent — though patronizing and traditional — views of women as pure, but fragile, reinforce gender inequality. “
Really Magazine hasn’t been able to fully decode the assertion, but if you’d like to test your own level of ‘ Ambivalent Sexism ’, here is a 5 minute on-line test which quantifies your levels of ‘ Hostile Sexism ’ and ‘ Benevolent Sexism ’ . . .
* * *
* see Palmas photo agency archives and make up your own mind.
30 NOV 05
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Ants
Enthusiasts
of Hymenoptera: Formicidae ( ants) now have a new global resource
on line.
Provided by AntWeb – and utilising the über-powerful 3-D Google Earth server – the facility allows users to pin down locations the locations of many of the ( known ) species of ant worldwide.
AntWeb is
maintained by the California Academy of Sciences, and its mission
is to ' develop tools to (1) accelerate the discovery
and documentation of ant diversity, and (2) ensure ant information is widely
accessible across a broad community. '
There are extensive photo-sets and species info data on the site. Ant-philes
(like us) should not miss.
* * *
also see: http://antfarm.ma.cx/
29 NOV 05 (late late)
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Browsers
The BBC is advertising pointing out the
availability of a new issue of the excellent Open Source ( i.e. spyware-free
) Firefox web
browser.
Firefox is now reckoned to have around 10% of the gloabl browser market.
Oddly though, that’s not what the Really Magazine server logs show. . .
For some time now, over 20% of the magazine’s readers have been using Firefox.
What does that tell us about the readership ? Or the browser ?
We have no idea – but it feels very reassuring.
29 NOV 05 (late)
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Boars.
Following yesterday’s revelation that there are more runaway pigs in Australia than there are people, Really Magazine would like to draw attention to a similar, though considerably smaller ( as in 10,000 times smaller ) problem in the UK.
Specifically, an outbreak of Wild Boar. At least 230 of them in Sussex and Dorset alone. ( Note: In stark contrast to the Australian problem, wild boar were native animals in the UK up to around 500 years ago. )
The UK Govt. Department for Environment Fisheries and Food (DEFRA),
would like help in deciding what to do about it.
They have launched a ‘ Public Consultation Exercise ’ in the form of a document with ‘tick the box’ questions giving options ranging from ‘do nothing’ to ‘eradicate all feral wild boar’.
Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be an interactive web-based version of the form, but you can download the .pdf here , print it out, fill it in, and post it to the ministry. The deadline is Jan 6th 2006.
( Note : There is also a worrying outbreak
of Edible Dormice around Tring in Hertfordshire. )
29 NOV 05
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More Judas Donkeys * on the horizon ?
• Feral rabbits : countless
• Feral pigs : 23 Million
• Feral cats : 12 Million
• Feral donkeys : 5 Million
• Feral camels : 0.3 Million
• Feral horses : 0.3 Million
According to an Australian government-commissioned report
just released, the activities of these wild animals are costing ‘ the
economy ’ more than A$700Million per year.
Really Magazine notes that none of those animal species was naturally indigenous to the country. All were introduced deliberately by settlers . . .
( People ? : 21 Million )
* Google it.
28 NOV 05
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Biophilics
This week, the British Medical Journal has teamed up with the Veterinary Record to publish a series of research papers on the theme of “ connections between animal and human health “.
The idea that being near, and interacting with ( the right kind of ) animals can be beneficial for human health is rapidly gaining ground.
One of the key papers focussed on the health-giving benefits of swimming with dolphins. Specifically, bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus.
Thirty people suffering from depression were taken to Honduras for two weeks of sub-aqua activities. They were split into two groups – one swam with the dolphins for a hour a day – the other group did an hour’s snorkelling too, but without the dolphins.
The results ?
“ Animal facilitated therapy with dolphins is an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression “.
At a risk of drifting slightly ‘off message’ Really Magazine would like to point out though that the results of the experiment showed that both group’s symptoms significantly improved during their two weeks of sub-aqua relaxations.
Put another way, a two week break, snorkelling around the Honduras the barrier coral reef, really did help to alleviate depression - and the 'swimming with dolphins' package was even better still.
( The beneficial power of the holiday break was even more noticeable bearing in mind that all participants were taken off medication for a total of six weeks before and during the trials )
Really Magazine confidently predicts that anyone suffering from depression and who is lucky enough to get access to something like this will find considerable relief.
25 NOV 05
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New Antarctic hotspot.
The UK govt. will no doubt be pleased to hear the latest news from the South Atlantic. The British Overseas Territories have got bigger by 50 acres - in the last month alone.
Montagu Island, which is 14,500 km from the UK, hosts volcano 1900-081 , which is rapidly adding to the size of Her Majesty’s landmass.
Enthusiasts of empire-building shouldn’t become overly optimistic though. The ‘mainland’ UK is slowly but surely being eaten away by coastal erosion.
Press release form the British Antarctic Survey here :
24 NOV 05
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Comic conclusions
“ In times of social danger and economic turmoil, many psychologists believe that people become more aggressive, more conventional, and less interested in feelings and emotions. “
To investigate this ‘ belief ’, researchers from Smith College in Northampton Ma. decided to examine, frame by frame, eight entire Marvel comic book series from 1978 until 92 . ( Think: X-Men, Daredevil, Spider Man. etc. )
It was found that in years of ‘ higher social and economic threat ’ ( e.g. 1979 - which included the Iran hostage crisis ) “ the comic books contained more aggressive imagery, focused on male characters, and were less introspective.* ”
But when were the ' threat years ' ?
The researchers plumped for 1978-82 and 1991-92. ( the very same periods when the aggressive traits showed up in the comics )
Whereas they labelled 1983-90 as a period of ‘ relatively low threat. ‘
Frustratingly though , Really Magazine hasn’t been able to determine by what criteria the years were categorised as low or high .
For our own checking purposes, we've taken a year at random , 1983 – classified as a ‘ low threat year ‘
Here's what happened . . . ( source Wikipedia )
• In February, Iran invaded Southeast Iraq.
• In early March, Ronald Reagan publicly condemned the Soviet Union as “ an evil Empire “
• In late March, Reagan announced the highly controversial ‘ Star Wars ’ missile-shield project.
• In September a Korean air passenger jet was shot down by a Russian jet. ( killing 269 )
• Later that month, Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averted a worldwide nuclear war by refusing to launch a nuke missile strike against the US – assuming ( correctly ) that his orders had been issued in error.
• Early October, a suicide bomber drove a truck laden with explosives into a US Marine Corps barracks at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 US servicemen.
• Late October, the US invaded Grenada.
• November. The US installed the first nuclear missiles at Greenham Common in the UK.
And that was ‘ low threat year ‘ ?
As Spidey used to say : “ Walloping web-snappers ! “
* * *
The research is published in the December edition of ‘ Political
Psychology ’ ( subscribers only )
* Note : Introspectiveness was measured by counting the number of occurrences of " thought in balloons rather than dialogue " . . . .
16 NOV 05
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Flock health
“ The modern turkey many enjoy at Thanksgiving ( and throughout the year ) is most definately (sic.) not the turkey our forefathers hunted in the wild. “
For more info on turkeys, see ' Talking Turkey …' on the University of Maryland newsdesk website.
In a Q & A session, which may have been prompted in part by the current worries about ‘avian ‘flu ’ , the university’s associate prof. of Animal and Avian Sciences explains, for example, that modern turkeys have become “ couch potatoes “ .
Even so - “ The key point is that our poultry supply is safe and wholesome to eat. “
More reassurances can be found on the National Chicken Council’s website :
“ The United States has not had a major outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza since 1983-84 “
That was H5N2 ( not H5N1 ).
The outbreak in Texas last year evidently wasn't considered 'major' ( or highly pathogenic ).
15 NOV 05
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“ For your comfortable car life with your doggy ”
The ' Wonderful Openhearted Wagon ' (WOW) from Honda is now going on show at various venues across Japan.
The
new concept-vehicle implements a modified glove compartment to carry your
pet dog. There’s also a pop-up ‘crate’ in the rear seat
area to accommodate larger animals. The carpets have been removed, and the
car has a polished wooden floor with an hygienic washable roll-out cover.
You can view the new vehicle at the Nagoya
Motor Show from the 17th – 20th Nov .
For full details of the WOW concept, visit the Honda DogLife pages – here translated via Babelfish.
14 NOV 05
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Patent of the millennium.
The US Patent Office has granted a patent for a “ Space vehicle propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state “ . . .
Errrrr . . . how does that work exactly ?
“ A cooled hollow superconductive shield is energized by an electromagnetic field resulting in the quantized vortices of lattice ions projecting a gravitomagnetic field that forms a spacetime curvature anomaly outside the space vehicle. “
rrrrrright . . .
like
. . . um . . . a
‘ Flying Saucer ’
perhaps ?
“ The space vehicle, surrounded by the spacetime anomaly, may move at a speed approaching the light-speed characteristic for the modified locale. “
Really Magazine is lost ( for words )
For the official Patent Office documents, on-line, see:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents
click on the 'full text' button for full cosmic effect . . .
12 NOV 05 ( late edition )
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Strawberry ( cough ! ) delite
Research just released by the Harvard School of Public Health shows the extent to which Big Cig the tobacco multinationals are willing to bend the rules explore new marketing opportunities by ‘candifying’ their products to attract youngsters.
“ new brands are being marketed to young smokers and racial/ethnic groups using colorful and stylish packaging and exploiting adolescents’ attraction to candy flavors. “
see : http://www.hsph.harvard.edu
Though
the news is not
all that hot, by sifting through 7 million ‘internal’ tobacco
industry documents, the researchers were able to collate a portfolio of brands
which use a ‘flavor pellet’ in the filter. For example “ Mandarin
Mint, Mocha Taboo, Mintrigue, Kauai Kolada, Margarita Mixer “ .
" [the] research revealed the development of flavor delivery technologies hidden from consumers and public health professionals "
Bearing in mind the growing consumer resistance to tobacco products, ( in the ‘West’ at least ) Really Magazine wonders if perhaps Big Cig will diversify instead into the confectionery industry. Producing, say, chocolates or candy bars with added nicotine ?
They could be pushed made avialable via vending machines in schools ?
Or how about Nico-Milk ?
* * *
Note : 440,000 people die of a tobacco-related illness each year
in the US. The annual economic cost is estimated at more than $157 Billion.
( source: Detroit News )
12 NOV 05
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Extrapolation in the Pongidae
Researchers from the geochronology dept. at McMaster University in Ontario have used “ absolute “ dating techniques ( involving electron spin resonance and uranium series ) on the fossilised teeth of Gigantopithecus blackii to prove that the giant ( 3mtrs tall ) ape ( a.k.a. Giganto ) was alive and well at the same time as humans.
Raising the question – ' Why aren’t they still around ? '.
Perhaps, ( Caution : unsubstantiated Really Magazine conjecture to follow : ) like the Neanderthals, every last one of them had their skulls bashed-in by Homo sapiens ?
But rather than concentrate on the possible reasons for their ( alleged ) demise ( 'alleged' because followers of Sasquatch and Bigfoot are far from convinced ) – Really Magazine would like to concentrate instead on the impressive way that palaeontologists can determine such enormous detail about an extinct animal from such scant remains.
All that has ever been found of the giant ape is a piece of jawbone and a few teeth.
For the full story of Giganto see ' The Ape That Was ' from Russell L. Ciochon at the University of Iowa :
Note: In the original post, we mistakenly located the university in California, it is of course in Hamilton, Ontrario, Canada.
11 NOV 05
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Holidays are good for you : official.
Depression is rated as the most common disorder in the US, affecting 19 million adults, and mental illness there has a direct cost estimated at around $150Billion per year.
Research published recently in the Wisconsin Medical Journal has suggested that “ Vacations have an impact on psychological health and overall quality of family life of employees “ ( where ‘impact’ = positive )
The Marshfield Epidemiological Research Center asked 1500 female respondents to fill in questionnaires, which were then analysed using various epidemiological techniques, including the Framingham Tension Scale.
“ Vacation provides a break from everyday stressors at work, provides an opportunity to engage in health promoting behaviours, and allows tome for tension release, personal involvement, and time to catch up on sleep and rest. “
Exactly.
Is it now time for governments and insurance companies to seriously considering the idea of providing a vacation as a means of treatment ? Could it, in some cases a least, be more cost-effective than say, long-term drug treatment, or hospitalisation ?
Editor's Note:
Really Magazine has been trying to unravel a rumour that such treatments have been available for some time in at least one EU country. Recipients can allegedly claim taxpayer-funded recuperative breaks, with some other ( ahem! ) personal services thrown in. If any German readers could let us know please ?
* * *
“ I’m sorry Mr. [ deleted ] , but your results show that you are severely depressed. There is, I’m afraid, only one course of action which your heath plan can provide – an all expenses paid six-week trip to Barbados for you and your family – I’m sorry Mr. [ deleted ] but that’s all we can offer you. “
p.s. The magazine will be conducting its own research
next week with a short break in Rio.
10 NOV 05
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De-RFIDing.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed in the consumer product manufacturing community that there is a gradually growing, and increasingly significant, consumer resistance to the idea of RFID tags
Groups such as Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering (CASPIAN) ( who run the Spychips website ) have been campaigning for some time to widen the public debate. Claiming that “ Major corporations and government plan to track your every move with RFID “
The tagging industry has already gone some way towards allaying public concern by implementing a 'kill command *' into the EPCglobal 'Generation 2 protocol ' " a consensus standard built by more than 60 of the world’s leading technology companies “
The kill command will ensure that ID tags can be permanently(?) disabled via a specific electronic message. Consumer groups point out though, that the customer still has no way of knowing whether the tag really has been permanently ‘killed’ or not.
Now the ' Pervasive Computing Solutions Department ' at IBM has come up with a scheme which could give consumers a trouble-free way to visibly de-activate a tag themselves.
The refreshingly simple idea is to manufacture the tag’s antenna in such a way that it can easily be identified, and clipped – or scratched – off by the customer.
More details of the story here, on Dcvelocity .
Really Magazine would like to point out though, that there are, of course, many other unofficial – but highly effective – ways to kill an RFID tag. There’s really no need for special manufacturing techniques or expensive D.I.Y. tag-zappers – most households already have the necessary tech gear to permanently cripple any electronic tags.
* * *
Note * If you don't own a hammer, or a bucket
of salty water, or a microwave oven, you could try sending binary 01 111111
1 { + 24 bit tag-specific code } at 900MHz instead.
09 NOV 05
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Disproportionation* in the media.
Yesterday’s most popular story at the UK’s Guardian website was “ Fuel's paradise ? Power source that turns physics on its head “
Readers who haven’t come across dihydrino gas before might like to check through the pages of the Hydrino Study Group .
Or, for acute detail, check this US patent from Feb 2000, which lists no fewer than 499 ‘claims’ regarding the utilisation of ‘ Lower-energy hydrogen methods and structures.’ And describes how “ energy can be released from hydrogen atoms by stimulating their electrons to relax to lower energy levels and smaller radii ”.
Its inventors say :
“ The energy released from this process is hundreds of times in excess of the energy required to start it.”
Radical stuff.
So radical, in fact, that according to the ‘traditional’ physics knowledgebase as at 2005 – it’s not possible.
As Really Magazine likes to point out from time to time, patent offices do not necessarily demand to see a working prototype of an invention before they grant a patent. In other words, the granting of a patent doesn’t guarantee that an invention actually works.
So although Really Magazine always has an open mind towards 'new science' ( a.k.a progress) - we'd like to be finally convinced with a pragmatic example. The new H tech, can we see a real-world practical demo please ? ( something a little more solid than a Flash ™ animation )
Sadly, although “ reactors are ready for development and commercialization “ Really Magazine unfortunately hasn’t been able to source, say, for example, an on-line video of one of the devices in action.
So, overly cautious as we are, our money is, for the time being at least, on ‘ Lifter Technology ’ instead - as described in another US patent 'Elektrokinetic Apparatus ' from 1960.
Although there are several conflicting hypotheses ( think: negative mass etc ) as to how Lifter tech might work, the ‘ Lifter ’ website has several videos actually showing the devices in operation – and comes with extensive do-it-yourself instructions as to how to build your very own Lifter.
* * *
* Disproportionation ? see here.
08 NOV 05
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Wired London ?
Back in August we high-lighted research from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research , Milan, into the levels of cocaine by-products in the River Po.
As reported by the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, the same team have now tested London’s river Thames for chemical traces.
Not surprisingly perhaps, they found what they were looking for.
There was a major difference, though, in the scale of the results. This time, the tests suggested that cocaine use is around 15 times the official estimate.
The word ‘astonishing’ is used to describe the findings. And it would certainly be astonishing if previous estimates as to the drug’s prevalence – using police, sociological and anecdotal evidence - were out by an order of magnitude ( and a half )
Really Magazine offers a tentative conjecture which may go some way towards explaining the astonishing results.
The tests weren’t looking for traces of the drug itself, but rather for benzoylecgonine – a chemical produced via the metabolic breakdown of cocaine in a user’s body. We ask :
Is it possible that benzoylecgonine could be showing up in sewage water via any other route ?
For instance, as a breakdown product of, say, Lidocaine or Mepivacaine, used on a daily basis as dental anaesthetics for thousands of dental treatments across the capital ?
And aren’t both those drugs also routinely used in substantial amounts as epidural anaesthetics in the capital's maternity wards ? Thousands of times every week ?
Then there’s :
Articaine, Benzocaine, Bupivacaine, Chloroprocaine, Prilocaine, Procaine, Ropivacaine, Tetracaine . . . etc etc.
Do any of these produce benzoylecgonine by-proucts ? And, if so, have they been factored into the results ?
Really Magazine has no idea, but it seems a reasonable question to ask.
* * *
Note : We also suggest a backup study – which could be of use in correlating levels of ‘use’ to various boroughs. It would involve collecting samples from barber’s shops across the capital . . .
07 NOV 05
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The Zugehörigkeitsgefühls of Star Trek™
Fans of Star Trek ™ may like to have a look at some new research just released by the University of Bonn.
The six-month long empirical study explored, in depth, the seriousness of the Star Trek ™ fanbase - analysing questionnaires completed by more than 1000 fans - mostly German, but also (via the www) from USA, Russia, Sweden and Australia.
The university has now posted a substantial web-page showing graphs of the results. ( note* The page is only available in German at the moment, though an English translation is in the offing )
Some example questions :
“ How close is Star Trek ™ to reality ? “ ( 9.17% think it’s reasonably realistic )
and :
“ Can you laugh at such parody ? ” ( 76.96% said ‘Ja!' )
The research looked, too, at an area which will presumably be of interest to the Star Trek ™ merchandising dept at Paramount - viz. the money which the fans spend on their ‘hobby’.
Around 15 per cent are, apparently, ready to invest more than €25 per month.
Conclusions ?
“ The term ' Star Trek Fan ' is not clearly definable, instead there are different degrees of intensity of the group consciousness ”
Fascinating . . .
Here is the page, as translated by Alta
Vista’s Babelfish.
05 NOV 05
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Positive venting down under.
New research from the Deakin University and Queensland University of Technology in Australia has shown that women get better results when complaining ( to a govt. dept. ) than do their male counterparts.
“ It may be that women only complain when they are sure they will succeed and consequently their claims appear larger than men’s ”
The size of the compensation, however ( averaging A$3619 ) wasn’t the most important contributing factor to the complainant’s satisfaction level.
In fact “The size of ‘compensation’ is to a degree irrelevant in whether the customer is satisfied or not ”
( bearing in mind though, that “ If the outcome is ‘less’ than what they sought they are less satisfied.”) . . . all clear ?
The research compliments previous findings from the same universities : see: ‘ A taxonomy of expressed emotion in complaints ‘ ( 2004 ).
The paper started with a strict definition :
Complaining is : “an expression of dissatisfaction for the purpose of venting emotions or achieving intrapsychic goals, interpersonal goals or both ”. (Kowalski 1996)p180.
And went on to ask “ What are the emotions present in complaint behaviour ? ”
The results ?
“ As expected, the negative basic emotions of fear, anger and sadness were all present. “ but, counter-intuitively perhaps, so were “ Love and Joy “ ( Really Magazine hasn't been able to de-cipher this unusual finding - for further info see appendix 1 of the paper )
And finally, what are the implications for those at the receiving end ? The managerial implications ?
“ complaint management strategy providers should
be skilled in enabling and managing consumer venting (voicing).”
Next !
* * *
Reader Jen A. comments :
" I work in customer service, and have certainly never had any complainants who seemed to have any "love and joy" to spare - mostly they ring up to make us miserable, and to screw compensation out of the organization, and secondarily to get problems sorted out... "
Reader Anastasia comments:
" Let's just say that I work for the second largest Australian company in the human/mental equivalent to the factory conveyor belt, Customer Service and:
- It's all about passing the buck, which exacerbates complaints.
- Each department has little idea about the next, therefore no clear cut answers can be given to customers.
- For every 'standard' query there is a template 'reply', so workers don't have to think about anything or strain their brain, once again contributing to complaints.
Management can't even manage to answer one simple question without consulting with other departments - who often have no clue - to return and tell a customer something that barely relates to the issue at hand."
04 NOV 05
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Quite quiet.
Visit any film location set and you’ll find very substantial diesel generators providing power for the lighting rigs. Over the years, the designs have been fine-tuned and soundproofed so that a top-of-the-range ‘jenny’ capable of producing 400kw can be made virtually inaudible a couple of metres away.
The diesel engines are fully enclosed, the exhaust is very efficiently silenced, and the means of delivering the power output – a fat cable – is of course completely quiet.
With
other forms of power plant though, noise-reduction is far less straightforward.
Take, for example, a jet engine. For a start, it’s vastly more powerful,
but, more importantly, the usable power comes in the form of a phenomenally
prodigious stream of extremely fast-moving hot air and gases.
If you were to try and ‘silence’ this power stream, you would end up negating most of the useable output from the engine.
Jet engines are, by their nature, viciously noisy beasts.
But that isn’t stopping the Cambridge-MIT Institute’s ‘ Silent Aircraft Initiative ‘ trying to “ produce the novel design for a passenger aircraft that will be radically quieter than today’s airplanes. “
The group was formed in Nov 2003, but, just in the last three months or so, stories about the project have been regularly spouting up in the media. Here’s some quotes :
From the BBC : 17 Aug 2005
" The new aircraft is basically a flying wing and would be inaudible once it left the airport. "
From The Register : 19 Aug 2005
" A research group at the University of Cambridge is working on a radical new aircraft design it says could eventually reduce the noise pollution in areas around airports to virtually nil. "
From The Guardian : 19 Aug 2005
" The aircraft, with four engines on top of a wing-shaped fuselage, should be so quiet no noise would be heard outside an airport's perimeter."
Impressive stuff. But . . . how will that work exactly ?
A four-engined passenger jet “ which is no louder than the ambient urban noise outside airport boundaries “ says the SAI.
So, that would be about 70 - 75 dB(A) ish ? ( source: DEFRA - ( that's Heathrow ))
Really ?
Of course it will be possible to further reduce engine noise - passenger jets have become far quieter over the last 40 years or so. But there are two problems. Firstly, jet-silencing is very much subject to a law of diminishing returns – there comes a point where the engines simply can’t be quietened any further without severely compromising the power output.
Secondly, with the trend for ever larger planes, won’t the tendency be to go bigger still – and just bolt-on more ( albeit quieter ) engine pods up to the legal limit ? ( The new Airbus 380 , for instance, just scrapes in under the current noise regs. )
The latest press item about the scheme, from The Times : 02 Nov 2005, was refreshingly different from the others though. In the interest of balance ( we assume ) , it has a quote from Jeff Gazzard, co-ordinator of the Greenskies Alliance ,
“They are trying to imagine their way out of the problem with artists’ impressions that are worthy of Walt Disney.
The only realistic solution is to fly less.”
Quiet.
* * *
For the SAI's project brochure (.pdf), with artist’s impressions,
click here:
03 NOV 05 (late edition)
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The (not so) Light Touch
It’s now three days since the UK Govts. ‘ Citizenship Test ’ came into operation. Any ‘ foreigner ’ who wishes to apply for a UK passport now has to take the test.
The test's questions are based on the booklet “ Life in the United Kingdom, A Journey to Citizenship ” published in December 2004 by the Home Office.
It was compiled on the recommendation of the ‘ Life in the UK advisory group ’ on behalf of the (then) Home Secretary, the Rt. Hon. David Blunkett , MP.*
So, do you have “ sufficient knowledge about life in the United Kingdom ” to be considered a worthy UK citizen ? Even if you are one already ?
You think so ?
Are you sure ?
The questions follow a ' tick-the-box ' format : As a practice run, here are two examples of tick-the-box format questions. ( Note: the test is computer-based, so, if you're unsure as to how to use a mouse, here are the government guidelines )
Q1 In the UK, would it be considered a ‘ conflict of interest ‘ to own shares in a company which manufactures biometric ID cards – if you were the minister responsible for passing the laws which would make them obligatory for every citizen ?
Q2 ' Bling ' is UK slang for :
Now test yourself with 14 more excellent but very unofficial questions – courtesy of the BBC. ( you can find out where Father Christmas comes from, and what to do if you spill someone's pint. )
And Jolly Good Luck to You All !
* Note:
Mr. Blunkett has now resigned from his ministerial post ( for the second time ).
03 NOV 05
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Usability Violation.
We’d like to remind readers that tomorrow, ( 3 Nov 2005 ) is World Usability Day. At 80 locations, in 30 countries around the world, consumers, designers and policy makers will be exploring the theme " Making It Easy ! "
It’s an idea being promoted by the Usability Professionals' Association ( UPA ), in order to draw attention to the fact that “ Every citizen and customer has a right to expect products and services that are easy to use. “
As part of the effort to encourage designers to make their products straightforward and easy to use, the UPA has put together a tongue-in-cheek graphic device called a “ Usability Violation Ticket “ which can be filled-in and stuck on any offending article.
You can enter the details of the ‘violation’ , and below is written “ Failure to respond to the violation as charged shall be considered an admission of liability and bad usability “
There’s even a $50 cash prize on offer for the two most interesting photos of stickers and the offending articles . . .
- the sticker is available to download here:
http://worldusabilityday.org/node/226
( click on ‘ Download your own tickets to print in the World Usability Day image gallery. ‘ )
which leads you here :
http://worldusabilityday.org/image/tid/109
click on ‘ Usability Ticket ‘ ( not on ‘ Usability Violation Ticket ’ – that’s another sticker ) and you’re taken here :
http://worldusabilityday.org/node/227
Now, to download, click on ' Events page ' and you're bumped to here :
http://worldusabilityday.org/node/226
errrrrr . . . . that’s errrrr . . . back where we started isn’t it ?
* * *
OK, we'll help out the UPA, the link that you need is actually here :
http://www.triux.org/files/UsabilityTicket.pdf
And here’s details of the competition :
http://www.triux.org/usability-ticket/
02 NOV 05
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Burlington
Aficionados of all things subterranean may be interested in this BBC page regarding the Monkton Farleigh ‘mine’ - fitted out as a bunker to accommodate the upper echelons of the UK Govt, the Royals, and up to 4,000 civil servants in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack.
Quite how they would have got from Westminster ( central London ) to the depths of Wiltshire in 4 minutes ( the missile warning period ) was evidently not thoroughly thought through though – and luckily it was never needed anyway.
It has “ 60 miles of roads, a pub, and even its own railway station “ all 30metres underground.
And, according to this from the Times, it’s now up for sale : offers around £5Million will be given serious consideration.
Hardcore survivalists should bear in mind though ( before parting with their £5M ), that if the bunker complex was of any use whatever against the current range of hostile mega-nukes, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) would certainly not be :
a) admitting it’s there, or
b) selling it.
01 NOV 05
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