MAY 06
More on ethics
The ‘Ethical Consumer’ has more and more choice nowadays - from coffee, to washing machines, and even banking.
But obviously, to come to a rational decision about whether or not a firm fits your particular definition of ‘ethical ‘ behaviour, you would first need full and accurate information about them.
Bearing in mind the complexities of corporate structures though, how can consumers possibly keep track of the activities of large corporations and their subsidiaries ?
One place to look is in the minutes of shareholders meetings – increasingly available via the WWW. Shareholders are often highly motivated to root-out detailed information on company operations.
An example was highlighted at the recent Daimler Chrysler [ Mercedes®,
Chrysler®, Jeep®, Dodge® and Smart® etc ] shareholders meeting
in April.
Some shareholders had raised
their concerns about
Daimler Chrysler’s links to European Aeronautic Defence and Space
Company ( EADS
N.V.) - in which the company has a substantial
stake.
( EADS is listed at number 9 in the world’s 100 largest arms-producing companies by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - SIPRI )
Singled out for particular attention were two types of " mines " called MIFF and MUSPA, “ which were advertised under the names of PAAS and PATS on the Daimler/EADS/RTG-Euromunition website. (www.RTG-E.de) “.
[ There were also protests that the website had swiftly disappeared after attention was drawn to it.]
Daimler Chrysler, however, strongly refutes the allegations, with their statement ' Land mine production: Unfounded allegations against DaimlerChrysler ' to be found here ;
In any event, the ‘devices’ are no longer in production, the machinery used to manufacture them has apparently been scrapped, and the RTG Euromunitons website is off-air - so consumers wanting get hold of hard facts about the ‘devices’ might find things very difficult
– or rather, they would do, had the relevant webpage not been cached
by Archive.org . . . ( very busy website - keep
trying )
The cached page shows that the armaments were in fact classified
as ‘ Submunitions ’ -
to be scattered over a wide area by the so-called MW-1 ‘dispenser’ (
in the case of MIFFs , 896 at a time. )
They were designed to come-to-rest upright on the ground, and they were detonated when they detected seismic and magnetic signatures of passing vehicles or aircraft. Over 200,000 were manufactured. ( 98,000 MUSPA and 135,000 MIFF )
Do they sound like mines ?
Back to the present time though . . . Could concerned consumers ascertain
if Daimler Chrysler is now fully disconnected from any arms-related manufacturing
activities ?
They may have a chance to find out if they can visit Eurosatory 2006 – Paris, 12th - 16th June . ( turn up your audio for full effect )
“ The largest international gathering of land-air
defence and security equipment specialists “
Daimler Chrysler will be one of the 900 or so companies exhibiting there.
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Notes :
• The commonly referred to Landmine Treaty – a.k.a. the Ottawa Convention – banned ( or rather, tries to impose a ban on ) anti-personnel mines. It did not ban ‘land mines’.
Anti-tank/anti-vehicle/anti-aircraft mines and cluster bombs submunitions aren’t covered.
• EADS are involved, via their subsidiaries, with several other projects which make cluster bombs look fairly insignificant. If you'd like to find out more, here is a good place to start.
• ‘Further reading on mines :www.landmine.de
31 MAY 06
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For the avoidance of dystopian futures
This year’s AlifeX conference is programmed for June 3rd to June 7th in Bloomington Indiana.
AlifeX - or the International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems - will examine cutting-edge aspects of Artificial Life research :
“ Since biology is focused on the carbon-based chemistry of life as it exists on Earth, which it typically approaches with an analytical methodology, artificial life was proposed to concentrate instead on uncovering the fundamental principles of life via the synthesis of life-like processes in computers and other artificial media. “
There will be workshops and presentations, with some fairly far-sighted topics on the agenda, for example :
" The greater the freedom of a machine, the more it will need moral standards." . . .
The conference will also feature an extensive series ‘poster pitch
presentations’ : e.g.
• ‘ Evolving an Integrated Phototaxis and Hole-avoidance Behavior for a Swarm-bot ‘
• ‘ The Role of Programmed Death in the Persistence of Life ‘
• ‘ The fallacy of general purpose bio-inspired computing ‘
Full conference programme here :
30 MAY 06
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irrepressible.info
A major new freedom-of-information campaign was launched yesterday by Amnesty International and the Guardian/Observer group.
The irrepressible.info campaign “ calls for governments to stop censoring websites, blocking emails and shutting down blogs - and for big corporations to stop helping them. “
An essay in the Observer, by Amnesty’s director Kate Allen , names a handful of blue-chip companies allegedly involved in facilitating highly questionable www-repression activities for the governments of several countries.
Detailed descriptions of which have been circulating on the internet for some time now: for further info, websearch the following terms :
• Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems.
• China, Tunisia, Vietnam, Maldives, Israel, Iran. Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Myanmar,
Amnesty is asking for support in various ways, for example by encouraging bloggers to undermine censorship by publishing irrepressible fragments of censored material on their own sites. “ The more people take part, the more we can defeat unwarranted censorship and create an unstoppable network of protest. “
If you'd like to help out, use
this page to paste an I-Frame of irrepressible content to your site.
like this one:
Further reading :
• Some real-world examples from BBC correspondents.
• A list of currently imprisoned cyberdissidents from Reporters Without Borders.
29 MAY 06
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The taming of the ant.
“ The problem is caused by complex systems, where a large number a simple elements interact. And networking can be complex. Millions of interconnected nodes create inherent complexity and a growing sophistication of interactions between devices means complexity exists even when the number of devices is modest. “
Says Friday's press release from the reliably enjoyable IST Results newsfeed.
The solution to the problem could be BISON – a biology-inspired computer networking project funded by the European Commission’s FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) .
The new software architecture takes design cues from natural systems – such as :
• Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO), “ a computing scheme inspired by the way ants leave and follow paths to find the shortest route to food. “
By using what might be called ‘virtual pheromones’, the researchers have developed ‘ AntPing ’
[ .pdf, including example algorithms, here : ]
In fact, ants have been the darling workhorses of complex-network researchers for over two decades now : see this from New Scientist June 1994
But BISON has gone several steps further along the biological-ispiration track, for it also uses :
• Synchronicity Protocol ( SP) - inspired by firefly colonies, and
• Negative Chemotaxis (NC) which, “ in the digital world, prompts data to spontaneously disperse, effectively balancing the data load across the network. “
According to BISON coordinator, Prof. Ozalp Babaoglu from the Information
Science dept. of the University of Bologna, “ it
could become the basis for developing a heartbeat on the internet. “
27 MAY 06
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A psychic challenge opportunity.
If you ticked all the boxes, you might want to contact the UK Association for Skeptical Enquiry, who are overseeing a Psychic Challenge.
To win the prize, you’ll have to agree to the rules, and then successfully demonstrate your ability to a panel of judges with a video camera.
Before applying though, you might want to ask yourself - “ Does your gift work every time ? Is it affected by skeptics watching ? “
Full details here:
26 MAY 06 ( late edition )
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Spot the difference
A new graphics file format was announced yesterday by Microsoft.
Called Windows Media™ Photo ( .wdp ) , the new still image format will attempt to improve on the ubiquitous .jpg format which has become the standard for www graphics.
The new format will allow for lossy ( image degrading ) and non-lossy ( image integrity ) compression.
The jpg algorithms will take some beating though . . .
Here are two sample images :
The left – uncompressed, weighs-in at 102Kb
The right – compressed via .jpg , is 4Kb - some 25 times more compact.
Will the new format be as efficient ? And if it's not, will it still get adopted ?
For full details, you can download the specification here ( if you agree to the 700 word licence agreement first )
*Note. Turkey photo kindly supplied by the Agricultural
Research Service.
26 MAY 06
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Link of the day
here . . . oh, errrrrrr . . . seems there's no mention there,
try here instead . . .
TFI no tobacco day.
Next
Wednesday - 31st May 2006 – is World
No Tobacco Day.
It’s being organised by the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) wing of the World Health Organisation ( WHO)
The purpose being to “ encourage countries and governments to work towards strict regulation of tobacco products. “
To find details of WNTD activities in your area, use this
page :
further smoking related info:
• Tobacco kills around 1200 people each day in the US “ more than alcohol, illicit drugs, homicide, suicide, car accidents and AIDS combined. “ Source : Nevada Tobacco Prevention Coalition
• The Australian govt. Quitnow programme’s no-holds-barred videos
to encourage quitting.
• Statement on 'risky activities' from British American Tobacco (BAT)
“ In our view, it is perfectly reasonable for adults to make their own decisions on whether to partake in risky activities, whether that be smoking or anything else. “
25 MAY 06 ( late edition )
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Still a couple of days left in the UK’s ‘Silver Surfer Week’.
The UK charity Age Concern, has organised a series of computer and internet training sessions for senior citizens who want to experience first hand the benefits of being digitally connected.
Most of the events are free ( or have a very minimal entrance fee ), and are being held throughout the UK, from the highlands of Scotland, to the tip of Cornwall.
A good place to start explorations in cyberspace might be the main Age Concern site, which has an on-line chatroom and an extensive discussion forum.
The Silver Surfer site also features a real-world guide to getting started on the WWW.
• Tip 1: ‘Be patient’
25 MAY 06
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Future Fusion
Today sees the ‘Initialling Ceremony’ for the ITER project.
Ministers from the EU, Japan, China, South Korea, India and the US will be signing the agreement to get the €10bn* project underway.
The experimental fusion reactor – to be built at Cadarache , France – will be a step on the way towards a network of clean(er) energy generators – but estimates vary as to when viable fusion plants might come on stream.
Depending on who you ask, it’s somewhere between 40 and 100 years.
In the meantime, the US Dept. of Energy is embarking on another
fusion-reactor-based project, but which is due for completion by the end
of 2007.
The Solar Decathlon competition encourages 20 teams to build ‘solar houses’ which aim to use free energy from the sun as efficiently as is possible. In fact, the houses must provide all the home energy needs of a typical family using only solar power.
Difficult - but not as difficult as preventing a self sustaining plasma at 70,000,000 °C from burning-away the inside of a fusion reactor torus.
Perhaps the most important difference though, is that ITER, by definition, is exceptionally centralised and fragile – whereas self-sustaining ultra-efficient solar houses are inherently de-centralised, robust and ( worryingly for the electricity utility companies ) independent.
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Notes:
• Roughly 2 Billion people – 1/3rd of the human population - currently have no access to mains electricity at all. ( source: Florida State Univ. Sustainable Energy Center )
• €10bn = estimate.
24 MAY 06
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A glimpse o f t h e fu t u r e
The WWW2006 meeting is underway at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre , Scotland, from today until the 26th.
It’s being organised by the School of Electronics and Computer Science, (ECS) at the University of Southampton,
If you can’t make it to Edinburgh, or can’t afford the £750 registration fee ( £450 for students ) the university is also making available some free online web-browsing apps which give you a glimpse of what futureweb could well be like.
“
Imagine more than Google, Imagine a better iTunes, Imagine Google on iTunes “ says
the mSpace info page.
Really Magazine highly recommends that you try it out – it could well be a future reality check, here’s the beta page :
[ Advisory : It will make extensive use of your imagination. ]
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p.s.
The ECS site has an interesting interview with inventor of the Web professor Tim Berners-Lee.
“
I would have skipped on the double slash – there’s no need for
it. “
22 MAY 06
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5* with 02 in .cn
The Qinghai-Tibet rail link is scheduled for opening on 1St July.
The new 1,080 km (670 mile) section, connecting Golmud to Lhasa will
feature Canadian
built pressurised carriages with their own oxygen supply.
The extra oxygen is necessary because of the extreme altitude, 5000 metres above sea level.
This
site has some pictures.
According to Tibet News though, the initial passengers might be restricted ' 5 Star ' tourists only – with tickets in the region of $1000 per day.
Well out of reach for the poorest sections of the Chinese population, farmers whose income can be roughly equivalent to $100 per year.
There is some political controversy over the link too.
“ Opponents of China's Tibet policies have asserted that this railway will further increase immigration from the rest of China, reducing the proportion of Tibetans in Tibet. “ and so diluting the Tibetans voting power come election time.
It seems that ticket prices will have to drop considerably before that happens.
Update : Rumours of $1000 ticket prices were exaggerated , here are the fares . .
22 MAY 06
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. . . or are you just glad to see me ?
New research from the psychology dept. at Knox College , Illinois looks at the possible relationship between ‘gun handling’ , the production of testosterone, and aggressive tendencies.
30 (male) subjects (aged 18 -22) were tested for their testosterone levels - and then allowed to handle a gun [ Desert Eagle™ automatic handgun *] – or a toy [ Mouse Trap ™] for 15 minutes. They were then testosterone-tested again.
“ Next, subjects added as much hot sauce as they wanted to a cup of water they believed another male subject would have to drink. “ [ FRANK'S® RedHot® Sauce.]
So,
• Did the subjects who’d handled the gun have higher testosterone levels ?
• Did they add a few extra drops of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce ?
• Would it be an idea to test some female students too ?
All these questions will be answered when the research is be published in the July issue of the journal Psychological Science . . . but here’s a sneak preview
(Note * The 'gun' was just a replica )
Further info on young persons and guns: here, and here
20 MAY 06 ( late edition )
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Our money's on Finland
( a breath of fresh hot air at Eurovision )
Update : They won !
20 MAY 06
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Terms & Conditions Leaguetable update !
New entry : Straight in at number 2 ; Orange.co.uk
19 MAY 06 (late)
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Coprophagy in Carolina.
The Biological & Agricultural Engineering dept. at North Carolina State University has an informative web-page entitled :
‘ Guidelines for Feeding Broiler Litter to Beef Cattle ‘
If you are a beef farmer, did you realise that you might be able to save around $20 per cow over a 100-day wintering period, if you were to substitute commercial feed protein supplement for broiler litter ?
[ For the information of readers who aren’t beef farmers, broiler litter is :
“ an accumulation of excreta, wasted food, feathers and bedding material ” from poultry sheds. ]
If Really Magazine’s back-of-an-envelope calculations are correct, over the last 40 years, American cattle have chomped their way through roughly 40 million tons of it .
You should bear in mind though that “ Past research and field experience have shown that some rations containing poultry litter are unpalatable to cattle. “
And it’s not uncommon for some animals to refuse to eat it. If that were to happen, then the advice from the university is :
“ Such animals should be culled or placed on another ration. “
But maybe there are yet more possibilities for money saving measures – for which we can turn to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Their very extensive and no-holds-barred document ‘ Feed from animal wastes: state of knowledge ‘ introduces the intriguing possibility of what we might call Circular Coprophagy.
On the way, perhaps, to the farming equivalent of a perpetual motion machine . . . see their entry : ‘ Feeding cattle manure to poultry ‘
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Really Magazine has heard rumours though, of a ban . . .
But a search for ‘Broiler Litter’ on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website didn’t really help us to find out. In 2004, it seems a ban was recommended under an ‘Interim Final Rule’ (IFR)* – but has it actually been implemented ?
If any readers can help us out, we can adjust this post accordingly . . .
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For everything you ever wanted to know about the concept of ‘ Feeding animal wastes ‘ to your animals, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations provides this on-line ‘book’ on the subject, outlining the following possibilities ;
‘waste’ from > food for
poultry > pigs
poultry > cows
poultry > sheep
poultry > poultry
cattle > pigs
cattle > cattle
cattle > poultry
pigs > cattle
pigs > pigs
Etc etc
Oddly perhaps, humans don't seem to appear in the documentation - we are animals aren't we ?
* Update :
The IFR was changed to a Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) in July 2004.
But Really Magazine still hasn’t been able to determine if that was ever implemented either . . .
can anyone
let us know please ?
19 MAY 06
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Link of the day
Hot issues.
Apologies to readers for the late arrival of the following news, which we somehow missed in the 12th May issue of The Whitehaven News ( Sellafield’s local newspaper ).
There is a questionmark over the £80 per year ‘underwear allowance’ for workers at the Sellafield nuke-plant in the North of England.
Under a 30 year old deal with the unions, all male employees are entitled to the allowance, which provides for boxer-style briefs and vests – the ladies, it seems, are not so lucky. That can’t be right surely ?
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On a slightly more expensive note, The Whitehaven News (11th May ) also reminds us that there is an imminent court case – scheduled for June 8th at Whitehaven Magistrates Court – at which the British Nuclear Group (BNG) is likely to be prosecuted for the so-called Thorp leak.
The leak of concentrated nitric acid ( roughly enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool ) contained sufficient dissolved plutonium to make 20 N-bombs. It’s estimated to have a cleanup and downtime cost ( to the UK taxpayers) around £50Million. The reprocessing plant is still closed.
BNG faces a maximum fine of £15K ( roughly enough to buy a Citroen
C5 hatchback ).
18 MAY 06
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Calling the tune$
This week’s Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) publishes research into possible links between the sources of funding and clinical trial results.
The researchers, from the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School , wondered whether they would find differences in the outcomes of cardiovascular trials – depending whether the studies were funded by industry or by non-profit-making organisations . . .
And they did. Very substantially.
After looking at the results of 324 trials of cardiovascular medicines and procedures, consistent variations were found in the results. The studies which had been funded by industry were around 30% more likely to report positive results for the treatments under test.
Full details here :
17 MAY 06 (late edition)
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Sport or not sport ?
A paper in the current issue of the Journal of the Philosophy of Sport (JPS) poses the question :
' Was the Roman Gladiator an Athlete ? '
With reference to the Stoic writings of Seneca, Epictetus, Cicero and others, the author comes to come to the conclusion that “ The gladiator’s lone asset is virtue “.
Roman gladiators were, of course, forced to compete by their ‘owners’. Their choice was to fight – or be killed anyway.
“ gladiatorial combat, however, cannot be considered a sport
because it purposely undermines the competitors’ autonomy
and dignity.”
The JSP is subscription
only, but there is a short abstract on this
page provided by the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS)
at Paisley University, Glasgow, Scotland.
17 MAY 06
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You can take the padlock off your VCR now.
The Australian govt has announced a major re-structuring of copyright laws – or, as the Attorney General is describing them “ commonsense amendments “.
The new laws will make it legal for Australians to record most* television
or radio programmes at home - presumably meaning that, up until now, owning
a VCR or DVD recorder was legal – but using it to record progs off-air
wasn’t.
But soon you’ll be allowed “ to watch or listen to a program as it was made available to the public at the time of the original broadcast. “ also known as ‘time-shifting’.
You should bear in mind though that “ The recording must be deleted after one use. It will not be possible to use the recording over and over again. “
Really Magazine hasn’t been able to determine if that will make using the ‘replay’ facility legit or not. Can you rewind the tape ( or DVD ) to see that goal one more time ? ( without breaking the law ? )
Here things get a little more complicated though - you should note too that “ A recording is for the personal use of the person who made it." You can invite a friend over to watch or listen to your recording, but they must be friends. Replaying to ‘the public’ ( non-friends ? ) is not permitted.
( Note: Even if they are your real friends you won’t be allowed to lend or give them a copy to take home – the copy must stay at your home. Though it can presumably (?) be moved from room to room by your friends if needbe )
As far as music goes, so-called format-shifting will be legalised – so you will be able to make compilation copies of your fav tracks – and you can even play them to your friends – but again you mustn’t loan your CD to them.
So how about format-shifting, say, a film to a portable player ? No, it seems that’ll be illegal.
And non format-shifting ? Can you make a copy of a music track in the same format - for your own personal use as a backup ? No, you can’t You must change the format. ( e.g. mp3 > CD-R )
OK ?
Full details of the new commonsense laws here :
*Note:
Really Mag hasn't been able to determine the exact implications of the word most in this context.
16 MAY 06
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Send in the mules.
• Are you interested in cloning ?
• Do you like horse mule racing ?
• Are you likely to be in Nevada early next month ?
If you answered ‘yes’ to all three, then you may like to visit a ‘cloned mule race’ to be held at the Winnemucca race track on the 3rd and 4th June.
Two mule clones are competing - they emanate from the University of Idaho and Utah State University , and are believed to be “ the first cloned animals in the world to engage in athletic competition. “
( The two animals will be meeting the media and the public for a pre-race inspection and photo op. at Idaho Horse Expo on the 21st - 23rd of this month )
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Full story see: Mules and More magazine ( April issue )
Also see, a video of the clones :
Update: The clones came in 3rd and 7th,
15 MAY 06 ( late )
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Disgruntled of TW3.
If you were on your way from Kew Gardens to London's Heathrow Airport via Hounslow you could well drive through it without even noticing.
It could be said, in all fairness, that there are other urban regions
on the planet which might perhaps be expected to gain more attention from
a global-reach search engine than Brentford ,
Middx ( pop. 11,000 )
So why does Google think it’s so - relevant ?
The recently launched Google Trends search facility seems to be exceptionally preoccupied with the place – to the point which might even raise suspicions as to the algorithmic integrity of the new über-cyber-tech.
Things change very fast in Search Engine World, but, as of today, these are the positions where Brentford featured in the Google Trend results for searches of the words :
Irritating 5
Horrible 5
Busted 6
Fed up 6
Soapy 8
Smelly 8
Bored 10
To redress the issue ( slightly ), it also comes up as
Lovely 5
OK, it may not be the most stimulating and vibrant metropolitan area on Earth, but what has Google got against the place ? It has some very attractive river frontage, an arts centre, a football club, and a museum of steam.
For the time being though, Really Magazine is prepared to admit that it might well have overlooked the importance of Brentford . . . ( either that or the ‘Trends’ algo is still decidedly rough around the edges )
15 MAY 06
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Chagos islanders win High Court battle (again)
During
the 1960s – 70s around 2,000 Îlois people
( a.k.a Chagossians ) were ‘assisted’ to leave their
homes in the Chagos islands
by the UK government – to make way for a giant US airbase.
Diego Garcia – a.k.a “ The Footprint of Freedom ” and “ Camp Justice ” is now home to around 1,700 military personnel, 1,500 civilian contractors, and a B-2 nuclear (capable) bomber base.
In the 1960s, the US paid an $11Million ‘sweetener’ to the UK in consideration for the possibility of a rent-free lease, but . . . ( astonishing as it may seem bearing in mind the difficulties in ‘losing’ $11Million ) . . . the payment was kept secret from the UK Parliament and the US Congress.
( See : ‘ Islanders less important than tortoises ’ from the BBC Nov 3rd 2000 )
Yesterday, the Îlois won their (second) case in the UK High Court, which ruled that they are entitled to return to the Chagos Archipelago.
The High Court judges yesterday described the Îlois’ original expulsion from their islands as, quote, “ repugnant ”.
So, will Margaret Beckett , the UK's new Foreign Secretary, be minded to appeal against the decision ? She has 28 days to decide.
Perhaps it will depend on one’s definition of repugnant.
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Satellite pictures of the military base here: and here:
Update : 22 Oct 08
12 MAY 06 ( late edition )
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Stonehenge of the Amazon.
A new Stonehenge-like structure has been described by archaeologists in the Amazonian region of Brazil.
The new find - 127 regularly arranged granite blocks – was discovered* near the small town of Calçoene, in the northern state of Amapá.
According to the Instituto de Pesquisas Científicas e Tecnológicas do Estado do Amapá ( IEPA ) it’s probably between 500 and 2000 years old, and, like Stonehenge, the stones are arranged with positions which correlate with beams of sunlight at the time of the solstices.
Although the stones are not as large as the ones near Salisbury in the UK, it’s still very hard to imagine ways in which they could have been transported there and arranged by hand.
* note : the stones were of course already well known to locals of the area.
Source: O Globo ( in Portuguese )
Picture here ( today only )
12 MAY 06
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'Harvesting' in the NWT.
It’s possible that the Environment and Natural Resources Dept of Canada’s Northwest Territories might have to change their logo at some point in the future.
The 2006 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) ‘ Red List ’ of threatened species was released early this month.
And this year, Polar bears were re-classified - from a ‘Conservation Dependent’ species to ‘Vulnerable’.
The re-classification is based on the probable size-reduction of the Arctic ice floes due to global warming climate change. There are now reckoned to be just 22,000 to 27,000 Polar bears left in the wild.
So readers might be surprised to learn that it’s still possible to buy hunting permits to shoot them . . .
Canada's Northwest Territory has had historical big-game hunting agreements with the local indigenous Inuit people for many years – but, even if you are from, say, Idaho in the US, you can still buy a permit to kill Polar bears during the hunting season.
The shooting permits, and the accompanying ‘trophy fees’ and ‘tags’ - cost around $750 C – though a full ‘polar bear hunting trip’ is likely to set you back at least $15,000.
For an official overview of the current regulations, see this pdf : ( caution: 11Mb file ) www.nwtwildlife.com
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Note:
By law, hunters from outside the territories must use the services of an ‘outfitting’ company: for example :
www.polarbearhunting.net " Join us on the adventure of a lifetime and thrill to the chase of the Arctic's greatest trophy animal, the Polar Bear! "
or
www.adventuresinthewild.net " Polar bear hunting may become “History” some day, so you should act now and get on our waiting list if you want a polar bear! "
Supplemental story :
One consequence of the warming climate is already in evidence. Polar bears have been moving South ( presumably to compensate for territory reduction ) whilst Grizzly bears have been moving North ( because it’s not as cold ).
Thus increasing the chances for Grizzly/Polar hybrids – though they are rare to say the least.
And, as from last month they’re somewhat rarer – as the only one ever recorded in the wild was shot by a hunter near Banks Island in Canada's Northwest Territories.
The hunter had a Polar bear hunting permit ‘tag’ - but could have faced a 12 month jail sentence had he shot a Grizzly . . .
DNA tests ( on the bear) have shown that he didn’t.
Such hybrids are genetically close enough to be fertile – perhaps
giving some chance for an expansion in bear numbers – if they don’t
get
shot by hunters from Idaho* first . . .
Notes:
* audio clip courtesy CBC.ca
Thanks to researcher Carmelita McQ for the lead on this story.
11 MAY 06
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Dreamtime again
If you find yourself around Bridgewater, Massachusetts next month ( 20 –24th June ) , you could investigate the 23rd Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. (IASD)
There will be more than 100 workshops and symposia covering various aspect of the subject - psychology, anthropology, medicine, philosophy, humanities and even, surprisingly perhaps, business.
As an example, last year, the Director of Leadership Coaching , for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, presented a discussion paper showing that, by use of PMID® “ dreamwork can be successfully managed with executives through a coaching engagement. “
The IASD is based in Berkeley, CA, and is a nonprofit public benefit corporation, dedicated to the pure and applied investigation of dreams and dreaming.
To get a feel for the breadth of subjects discussed, have a look at a summary
of last
year’s conference papers ( .doc format for some reason )
The conference will conclude, as always, with the costume Dream Ball.
Full conference programme here:
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Joke of the day, courtesy of the late Tommy Cooper
" I dreamed I was eating a giant marshmallow - and when I woke up the pillow was gone "
10 MAY 06
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The many and various meanings of nothing.
The June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research enquires into the use and effectiveness of ‘white space’ in advertising.
White Space* being the 'empty' or 'blank' space used to surround an object or word in an ad.
The authors point out that “ Some types of research might look at white space as nothing, literally the absence of something. Of course, that would be wrong and completely out of step with real world practice and reality. “
So what does the use of white space really infer ? Tracing its use from the 1950s until today, the researchers found that “ creators and the readers of ads share a common understanding that white space usually means high quality, upscale or high price. “
Read an overview of the study here : ( .doc format for some reason )
؟ ؟ ؟
Further examples of the use of ‘nothing’ in media & art :
• ” Hearing mud dry ” by GX Jupitter-Larsen & The Haters (1997)
• Robert_Rauschenberg's 'White Paintings' (1951)
• Fred M. Katz's ' Empty Web Site® ' (1998)
*Note: The strict definition of ‘White Space’ allows
the space to be any colour – not necessarily white.
09 MAY 06
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Small is going to be big
The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has today published a series of eleven essays “ in which industry experts predict profound impacts of nanotechnology on society.”
Covering aspects of the subject as wide apart as ‘synthesised meat‘ to ‘positive sngularities‘ and ‘gedankenexperiments’.
For an explanation of the above, you’ll have to read the essays, which are posted here at wise-nano.org - which, as you might guess from the url, is urging the wise use of the emerging tech.
It’s a Wiki-style collaborative site “ - for researchers worldwide to work together, helping to build an understanding of the technologies, their effects, and what to do about them. “
Bearing in mind the source of the bulk of the research cash for nano-tech,
we’ll
prob. need all the wisdom we can get our hands on.
08 MAY 06
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Boke .cn
Ever wondered how many bloggers ( boke-ers ) there are in China ?
There’s ( about ) 16 million.
That’s according to a new survey by Baidu.com ( a Beijing based search engine )
Their prediction, based on current blogging sign-up rates, is that by the end of 2006, there will be 60 million.
And during 2007, it will probably reach 100 million.
If you’d like to start your own Chinese boke , you could try here :
Bear in mind though that : “ prerequisite is
not in violation of state laws and regulations Oh ^_^ ! “
؟ ؟ ؟
More info on the story here via xinhuanet.com
06 MAY 06
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We give it some welly
Can you reach your destination using the smallest amount of fuel possible ?
asks the new FuelStretch game from Shell.
“ Play the FuelStretch game and see if you've got the fuel efficiency
skills to make it home before your tank runs out. “
Really Magazine gave it a try – and came out rather well.
We picked the SUV of course,
Then we drove it straight to our destination.
We didn’t bother with any refinements – like steering for example.
Hell no ! we had the SUV right ?
Right across the ‘grass’ – virtual offroading all the way.
We scored 11,338 ! ( with a fuel bonus of 5538, and an efficiency bonus of 3300 )
- and still had 1/3rd of a tank left. Whoa ! Result !
Nuthin’ to it.
Play the game here ( requires Flash )
؟ ؟ ؟
p.s. Shell would love to hear from you if you have any anti gas guzzling fuel saving tips for them , here’s their feedback form . . .
Got any ideas ? go, on, you know you have . . .
More info on Shell here ( via CNN )
05 MAY 06 (late)
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Do you spake Salop ?
Do you have a Shropshire accent ( if there is such a thing ) ?
Would you like to earn £15 ?
If so, the University of Birmingham would (literally) like to hear from you.
Thurs and Fri next week they’ll be recording samples of Shropshire speech as part of their SpeechArk project.
The scheme is producing a corpus of recordings called The Accents of the British Isles (ABI-1) – they already have accents from as far afield as Liverpool, Truro, London, and ( not surprisingly ) Birmingham – but none, as yet, from Shrewsbury . . .
Sadly, the site SpeechArk doesn’t appear to have any on-line samples to listen to* – and access to the full recording set is a tadge pricy, at £20,000 for commercial customers.
Aside from academic and historical interest, what is the purpose of the database ? According the website it’s to “ investigate the performance of speech recognition systems with different speakers from the British Isles “.
Speech recognition algorithms have trouble with regional accents, but are crucially useful to telecomms, retailers, and call centres etc etc.
( And of course national security monitoring services, as the commercial partner behind the scheme Aurix Ltd explains on their website. )
So, hoik up yer yarks an’ maybe’s do a bit of cantin – get yerself 'nuff readies for a new ganzie ?
؟ ؟ ؟
* The British Library though does have some free example
recordings ( click through to
page 7 )
Much more info on the subject of accents, and some BBC recordings of Shropshire
folks here:
05 MAY 06
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“ It's a global world “
Surveys fall into two groups. The one’s which have a ‘ this is a thoroughly unscientific non-representative survey – just a bit of fun ’ disclaimer : and those which don’t.
The 2006
National Geographic – Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy is
one of the latter.
They asked a representative sample of US 18-24 year olds about various aspects of geography . . .
The results were – to say the least – eye opening.
• 63% couldn’t find Iraq on a map
• 50% couldn’t find New York State on a map
• 20% couldn’t find the Pacific Ocean on a map
• 6% couldn’t find the US on a map
To redress the balance, NatGeo and twenty or so education, business, and nonprofit partners – including the United Nations Foundation - have just launched the My Wonderful World project – a five year multimedia campaign
“ designed to give U.S. students tools to become more informed global citizens. “
؟ ؟ ؟
Read the full survey report here :
And you can test your
own geographic knowledge of planet Earth here:
Note: We took the test and failed on question 2 - we thought CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was shot in San Francisco . . .
04 MAY 06 ( late edition )
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The Evolution-Intelligent Design circus.
If you happen to be in New York on the 5th or 7th of this month, you might still be able to get tickets to see Flock of Dodos – a new 84 minute documentary film on the subject of ID.
“ Ecologist-turned-filmmaker Dr.
Randy Olson interviews everyone from poker-playing evolutionists
and Harvard scientists to advocates of intelligent
design “
The film “ probes the great communications struggle around evolution vs. intelligent design being waged in today's mainstream media. “
Or, as the Tribeca Film Festival review puts it “ Intelligent Design has a better PR team than evolution. “
• Watch the trailer here : www.flockofdodos.com
• Randy’s blog : www.shiftingbaselines.org/blog/
04 MAY 06
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The Window Which Burns Real *
Ever wondered how your fav website or blog might look to someone from another
country who's viewing it with auto-translation ?
Wonder no more.
Using Really Magazine’s new 2Xlation facility , you can view English-text websites and see how they might pan out after a round trip though the current state-of-the-art translation engines . . .
( caution: may cause dismay / amusement / confusion etc etc )
Click here to experiment.
( * 2Xlation for ‘Really Magazine’ )
03 MAY 06 ( late edition )
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Consumer contagion.
“ Recently, marketing researchers have found that information obtained through physical touch plays a central role in the evaluation of consumer products. “
- begins the executive summary of a new research paper from the School of Business at the University of Alberta in Canada.
In other words, shoppers like to touch things before they buy them.
The paper goes a step further though – and asks the question whether “ consumers may evaluate products less favorably when other consumers have touched a product first “ . . .
To test the idea, the authors developed a theory of ' consumer contamination ' , and measured differences in shoppers' responses depending on how many times someone else had touched a t-shirt on offer in a shop – and how recently they had done so .
The answers ( with obvious implications for store owners ) are published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Marketing ( $24 pay-per-view ) – or you can read a short abstract here :
Really Magazine would like to suggest that there maybe an opportunity for further research - depending on the type of product on offer in the shops . . .
For instance, would there be any differences in the levels of perceived ‘contagion’ between
say, meringues and teddy bears, or doormats and bikinis ?
03 MAY 06
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Bubbles of the tendency of conspicuous consumption.
As from yesterday, they cannot be sold legally in China.
Full story see:
Xinhuanet.com
02 MAY 06 (late-late)
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Online happiness measuring device
Do you know how happy you are ?
Do you want to know ?
If you answered "no" and "yes" above, then you may be interested in this ‘ Satisfaction
With Life Scale ‘ test
which the BBC has made available
on their website today.
The test takes the following structural form :
A statement:
I really had no idea whether I was happy or not until I took this test
followed by some tick-boxes :
( where 1 = strongly dissagree, 7 = strongly agree )
02 MAY 06 (late)
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Request For Info : Lunarwise.
NASA would like to hear from you if you have any ( viable ) ideas for “ activities that could be pursued on the moon as part of an integrated global exploration strategy. “
The ‘request for information’ (RFI) appeal closes on May 12th .
Notes:
Oddly perhaps, considering that the RFI is listed under the heading 'business opportunities' on the NASA website, submitters should note that any ideas are for “ planning purposes only ”.
Any submitted concepts -
• should be consistent with advances that are reasonably achievable within a 25 year horizon.
And, most importantly perhaps :
• should be consistent with generally accepted laws of physics.
You can begin your application process here :
02 MAY 06
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Addicted to your mobe ?
How would you know ? According to researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) , Australia, warning signs might include :
“ - running up huge bills and having irrational reactions to being without a phone if you forgot or lost your mobile.”
As part of their ongoing research into the subject, the university has launched a web-based survey and is asking for mobile-user feedback.
If you are Australian, aged 16 or over and use a mobile, then the School would like to hear from you via their website.
( Completing the survey will also give you the chance to participate in a prize draw with A$800 worth of gift vouchers on offer. )
" I think it's critical that we can help people realise their level of dependency and ultimately help them do something about it. “ says the lead researcher in the QUT press-release.
Bearing in mind that the study is being conducted under the auspices of the QUT School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations - and that the collected data will be used “ to provide information to policy makers developing long term strategies ” - is it possible that, at some time in the future, we might be seeing advertising or PR campaigns aimed at dissuading customers from buying mobiles ?
What d’you reckon the chances of that happening ?
Note: According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian mobile industry was worth around A$8Billion / year in 2003
01 MAY 06
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