Supersonic Cars, 25 Years .com, Leprechauns And Lorry Shunting

Spring is finally here, with temperatures exceeding 10C for the first time in 4 months! It sure has been long winter.

Funny how the media grabs a topic and milks it. Not only Toyota and GM have had large scale recalls recently, but Honda are also doing it to 400K vehicles in the US says the BBC. Since the media keep reporting this, many would think this is some kind of new wave sweeping the auto industry, when in fact recalls are not unusual.

Richard Noble and hist crew are going at it again, with the sequel to Thrust SSC. The new supersonic car called Bloodhound will have expanding aluminium wheels to cope with the forces it will have to endure. The attempt to push the land speed record to 1000mph is set for the end of 2011 in South Africa.

The internet celebrated a milestone this week with the 25th anniversary of Symbolic's registration as the first commercial (.com) domain. The BBC explains the history here.

Peter Graves of Mission Impossible series fame passed away this week. RIP: mission accomplished!

More evidence about the online music sales business model, with the report that the amount from online royalties is growing faster than the decline from CDs and DVDs. Now when the publishers going to stop whining and embrace the new medium.

It seems that modern day scientists are a short sighted folk. Like GM crops that only seem to be tested against a single cause and effect, we now have a proposal to add iron to the worlds seas, so that their ability to absorb CO2 is increased. Unfortunately the BBC reports that more iron means that the algae produce more of a nerve toxin that affects marine life and birds.

TCO is the key cost factor for enterprises and Ars reports on a survey by the Enterprise Desktop Alliance that Macs are in the long run cheaper to maintain than Windows PCs.



The Playboy Channel got some early morning airplay in parts of North Carolina this week. The BBC tells of how the preview windows of a children's on demand station were showing hot babes instead.

The French have made a TV program based on the famous 1960s experiment, where members of the public take part in an experiment in which a man is given electric shocks when answering questions incorrectly, the BBC reports. Television is reaching new levels of sensationalism, so personally this stuff is unnecessary for me. But I wonder how long will it be before it we get copycat shows sold throughout the rest of the world?

It was St. Patricks Day this week and the BBC has an article on how officers in Nashville decided to celebrate by shooting a leprechaun. In this case it was a bank robber, who together with his getaway driver were deactivated following a shootout.

In yet another example of how much big brother power the web potentially has and how the weakest link in cyber security are the employees, Wired reports on how an ex-garage worker used a remote deactivation system to set off the horns on 100 vehicles. It was only that he left his IP address unprotected that authorities managed to trace him.

The Amsterdam Historical Museum are showing an exhibit from by Kienholz depicting the red light district in the 1980s. It is not as likely to shock the Dutch residents as much as those in London, where it has already been shown in the National Gallery.



The Polish Auschwitz trio that nicked the famous sign from the site have been sentenced to up to 2.5 years in jail say the BBC. A trial was deemed unnecessary since the perpetrators had already admitted to the theft.

Science reports on the creation of a 3D invisibility cloak of nanometer scale that hides a bump, by using fibre type structures and a laser to change the refractive index. When the object is viewed from any angle, the surface appears flat.

Finally a bizarre film from YouTube prompts officers from North Yorkshire to re-investigate a motorway shunting incident.

Mad Toyota Hoaxes And Other Stories

The media reported two Toyota incidents this week. The first one involving James Sikes who claimed his 2008 Prius accelerated out of control turned out to be BS. His claims to the media have been dismissed on closer examination and he has a previous history of bankruptcy and insurance fraud. The second incident involved a housekeeper who hit a wall after an apparent sudden acceleration. In this case there were injuries, though it is too early to say if this was a driving error or a technical fault.

The BBC reports on a plan to introduce a natural enemy of the Japanese knotweed, a plant introduced to the UK in Victorian times that is very hardy and has been even known to disrupt building sites. I do worry about these tactics in the same way as I do about GM foods, in that a proven one-to-one relation between pest and plant does not mean that there will be other consequences, such as effects on native species.

More news on the Auschwitz sign theft. The Swedish suspect will be extradited to Poland to stand trial, according to the BBC.

The LHC will be a shutdown for a year at the end 2011 to repair errors in the design that prevent the machine from working at full power under safe conditions. The BBC reports that scientists admit that unique projects of this size are their own prototypes, so their is always risk of a design fault. For conspiracy theorists, a year after the end of 2011 means the 2012, so those of us worried about black holes and the end of the world have something more to worry about.

The 512-byte block size has had its day say the BBC. Disks have become so large that the number of blocks required for error detection reduces the effective amount left over for real use. 4K will be the new standard, but apparently Windows XP users will be out of luck because drivers will only 512 bytes, forcing disks to run in slower, compatibility mode.

OnLive is finally scheduled to go live in June this year. The BBC call it a console killer, and there conceptually it could be. I just hope they can guarantee the server power needed to run games like Crysis for thousands of user over the net and you'll probably need a decent multiple-Mbps connection too.

My Mental Radio has been playing two tracks persistently this week. Maybe I should make this a regular feature:

Long Long Way From Home - Foreigner
Lethal Weapon - Honeymoon Suite

March Is Here

March is finally here though it's still rather cold for the time of year. Things are supposed to get more spring like next week. It's about time. It's rarely got above 4 or 5 degrees since the middle of December and though we haven't any really deep snowfall, we've had it regularly enough to disrupt traffic, rail and airports.

This post summarises news from the past couple of weeks. China and its internet censorship policies have been cropping regularly in the press. This report from The Times online suggests that China are indeed bugging western nations.

In a follow up to the pinching of the sign at Auschwitz, the BBC reports that a Swede is being sought by authorities for authorising the theft.

The BBC reports on a study in which people are about 20ms faster when reacting rather than initiating. This would mean that the one who draws first in a gun fight would be at a disadvantage.

There is an official explanation about why WTC 7 collapsed in what appeared to be a controlled demolition. The BBC report states that media film never saw the side of the building that was facing the twin towers when they collapsed and that this side was badly damaged by debris. Also the building was constructed over metro so that that it was more likely to fall in on itself. I'm afraid is does not convince me. If only one side of the building was affected, I still cannot understand why the 47 story tower came straight down.

New Scientist reports on how physiologists have hacked a 25fps camera to produce 400fps images!

Ants will sacrifice themselves by moving out of a colony if they find themselves sick says the BBC. Also bat's are not affected by alcohol when it comes to flying.

The Brits have decided to start drilling for oil in the Falkland islands. Argentina is not pleased and has the backing of the likes of Chavez who says the time for playing empire is long over.

The British National Archives have released UFO files. Read them here.

Yes, no, yes...finally! The Dutch have NS have announced that from March 2010 it will be possible to internet in the train! Story from Tweakers.net here.

It is possible to bank sleep. If you know you are going to have a long day then extra sleep beforehand will make you feel fitter say the BBC.

I have to admit liking girls with curves and broad hips. This article from Nu.nl explains that the site of an hourglass figure tickles part of the brain associated with rewards and has a drug inducing effect. I'm not complaining, though some people don't appreciate the female figure, especially when a Venus de Milo is created out of snow.

Apple's iTunes store has celebrated their 10 billionth download. Now when is the music industry going to get up of its arse and do something constructive, now that there is proven business model for selling music online.

Men At Work's fight over the kookaburra is not over yet according to the BBC. EMI have backed them up saying that the copyright does not actually belong to the company making the claim.

A drop of oil in some acid can solve a maze faster than a rat.

It has taken longer than I thought but Ars Technica reports on how the internet has finally beaten print as a primary news source in the US.

In a worrying development, a GM potato has been approved for use by farmers. Though luckily not fit for human consumption, it is impossible to test every effect and side-effect from using a GM crop, affecting parasites, the food chain etc.

A report from Ars indicates that it is possible to obtain medical records using P2P techniques. Think twice about sending medical information in plain email or storing it on your PC.

While publishers are afraid to touch 6 Days In Falluja, there is more evidence that munitions have caused birth defects in the city.

The recent 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chili may have caused the Earth's rotation to speed up, shaving 1.26 microseconds of a day. BBC explains the mechanics here.

Ubuntu have dropped their Earthy brown tints for a more purple/aubergine style. There's more to see at Ars here.

In the true spirit of openness and freedom, North Korea have introduced their own Linux distribution, Red Star. Meanwhile in South Korea, a couple have been arrested for neglecting their newborn as a result of internet addiction.

Finally some amazing photo shots, the first from the Boneyard, the largest plane cemetery in the world and the second courtesy of NASA and their Blue Marble project.