Shame on Us

For our last General Election, in 2001, only 59.4% of us could be bothered to turn out and put our cross on the ballot paper. In all probability, when we go to the polls next time - perhaps May this year - the turnout is unlikely to be significantly higher.

Contrast this with the election held yesterday in Iraq. Would-be voters there faced the very real possibility of injury or death - over 40 people did die in attacks. Despite this, the turnout figure there is estimated at 57%...

Dignity

I happened to catch the news coverage last night of the last four British prisoners from Guantanamo bay last night. It gave me much to think about: for a start, were any of them actually guilty of anything? Surely if this was the case, then the Americans would have charged them...

Regardless of guilt or innocence, I was most struck with the quiet and dignified behaviour of Azmat Begg, father of one of the detainees. Would I have been as calm in the same circumstances? Somehow, I rather doubt it.

Thanks for Sharing That

Apparently, some under-occupied academic has determined that next Monday will be the worst, most depressing day of the year.

Not for me it won't - it's my day off!

Put Your Own House In Order

I was rather bemused to read that US ISP Verizon has blocked email from Europe in an attempt to fight spam. I receive around 100 spam emails per day and almost all of them either come from, or certainly promote products from, the United States...

Maybe they should be looking a little closer to home?

Sour Grapes?

With today's rollout of the Airbus A380, the Boeing 747 is no longer the world's largest airliner. Reading about this new aerial behemoth, I was interested to discover that Boeing have complained to the World Trade Organisation about Airbus receiving illegal government subsidies.

Given that the 747 was developed form the earlier 707, which was a variation of the KC-135 tanker aeroplane, is it not possible to argue that Boeing received huge subsidies courtesy of the USAF and therefore the US government?

I Like It

I'm currently contemplating the purchase of an Apple iPod - though as I've just received my credit card bill for Christmas, it might have to wait a bit.

Being currently of a pro-Apple frame of mind, I'm very interested in the new "affordable" Mac. As an email/surfing machine, it might be rather lovely. Imagine - looks stunning, has the stability and security of a unix based OS, and the Mac OSX graphical user interface is absolutely gorgeous.

Of course, given the strength of the pound against the dollar, I do hope that when the mac Mini appears over here, we don't see any attempt to rip off us poor Brits...according to my calculations, the US price of $499 equates to just £267. YES PLEASE!!

UPDATE: I've just read that the Mac Mini will retail here for £339 - we're still being taken for a ride, but not as much as I'd expected.

No Thunderbolts Then?

Well, after the furore last week I made a special effort to watch Jerry Springer - The Opera, and I'm still here without even a whiff of brimstone!

I personally thought it was a very clever and extremely funny parody - the tap dancing KKK troupe towards the end of the first act had me laughing so much that it hurt. Yes, there were plenty of swearwords, but none that I've never heard before - anyway doesn't the "real" Gerry Springer Show have a fair number of bleeper moments?

My thanks must go to Mediawatch UK for drawing my attention to this work - I'd have hated to miss it!

One last thought, with regard to whomever made the alleged death threats to the BBC executives. Assuming this was one of the Christian fundamentalist nutters - yes, I am talking to you, Christian Voice - doesn't your god call upon you to "Turn the other cheek"? Come to think of it, I've a feeling that there may also be something in the bible along the lines of "Thou shalt not kill"

Turn Over Then

There's a nice little furore developing about the BBC's decision to show "Jerry Springer - the Opera" this coming weekend. Apparently the show contains numerous expletives with a dash of blasphemy thrown in for good measure, which appears to have wound up the usual bunch of god-botherers and self-appointed nannies...

The worst of these groups, MediawatchUK, have stated that "Licence fee payers do not expect the BBC to be pushing back boundaries of taste and decency in this way."

This is a bit odd, because I'm a licence fee payer, and I really can't recall being asked for my opinion. For the record, I have no issues with this programme being shown - I wasn't aware of it, but may well make a point of watching it just to get up the collective nose of the Mary Whitehouse-wannabes.

To those offended by the show I suggest either a: watch something else, or b: switch the box off altogether and get a life instead...

K I S S

No, the title's nothing to do with matters romantic:

Keep It Simple Stupid!

This is good advice and particularly applicable in the IT industry. Last night I went round to see a friend of mine who's just been given a PC. She's never really used them and is finding it very confusing.

This has made me think: To the likes of me - and I spend all day in front of a computer - they're very easy to use. However, to a beginner, PCs are incredibly complex. All my friend really wants to do is surf the web, send and receive email, and write the odd letter. Why can't we have simple easily-used consumer oriented PCs which are specifically designed for this sort of thing ?