Author: Mike

I just received my increased Council Tax bill!!!

I know I have places for three cars to park outside my house, but I wonder if I have been penalised after a visit by one of the new ‘spying’ house inspectors under new government directives?

I still come across businesses that seem so cavalier with their own data, it’s a wonder to how that stay in business – unfortunately many don’t after a serious event like a fire or flood!

What I find even more amazing are the companies that spend large amounts of money on exotic backup architectures, but never find time to actually test a restore their backups – finding out after the event is no time to discover that there’s actually nothing on the back up tape!

Many home PC users are also just as much in the dark about backups, which is surprising when just about every PC that is sold has a RW device and with free (albeit basic) backup software available on the Internet it could not be easier.

It’s even more amazing when you think that 8GB memory sticks are now available for under £50.00; less than it now takes to fill the average family car with petrol!

Back up that PC’s you’re never sure when you’ll need it.

With a number of recent re-announcements about BT rolling out its 21CN 24MB Internet connection architecture across the UK next month following trial in South Wales, I came across this 21CN roll-out map.

As I constantly struggle to maintain 4Mb connection speeds, it will be interesting to find out what increase in speed this new architecture delivers for me, and of course how much  more I have to pay for it.

Here is some more info from the BT 21CN web site.

Interesting announcement this morning that F1 is moving back to the BBC for the 2009 season.

At last, no adverts to deal with! However, I do hope that the BBC take on board what ITV has done with their coverage which I think has enhanced the televising of the sport. The BBC coverage had grown a bit long in tooth and ITV did bring a breath of fresh air to it.

Next thing to think about is who will be the lead commentator? Clearly Murray is too old to bring back for each race, I suppose that we’ll still get the ‘informed‘ comments from Martin Brundle, but let hope they pick someone who’s voice is easy to listen to, unlike that Brian Moore on the Rugby! God what a voice and what an attitude!

Again from the guys at MySociety.org, some new travel maps based on their original travel maps back in 2006.

Some very interesting data sets have been used to create these maps, I really like the interactive map based on house prices and travel time.

Browse around, it’s very interesting.

Further to my last post I had a further look around another of their sites, TheyWorkForYou.Com.

Although still in beta, it seems that this site has moved on a quite a bit since I last looked at it. For example…

• The Home page now contains links to ‘yesterdays’ events in the House of Commons, House of Lords, and a number of other areas of government.

• The Hansard page now contains links to verbatim sessions for the House of Commons, House of Lords, Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. One interesting feature of  the verbatim debates sub page where you are able to leave a comment about what the relevant MP/Lord has said. I’m not sure what happens to these comments – are they forwarded to the relevant speaker?

• The Your MP page allows you find your own local MP by Postcode and once that has happened, the page then displays everything that you need to about your own MP including their voting record on a range of issues – this section will make you sit up! Also as it’s topical; there’s a section your own MP’s expenses.

• The All MP’s page lists all of MP’s with link to their own MySociety.org page, this is where the Your MP page gets it information. You can also see on the All MP’s page which government department/committee that each MP is part of.

• The All Lords page is basically the same as the All MP’s page.

• The All MLA’s page again is basically the same as the All MP’s and All Lords page except this one covers Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

It’s a very interesting site and I am sure will have much more added to it as time goes on. Take a good browse around.

Have you ever wanted to ask a local or central government agency or department a Freedom of Information question and weren’t sure how to do it?

Well those clever people at My Society have come up with an easy to use web site that helps you send the message in a correct format to the right department all by the magic of email.

What do they know although still under development, this new site allows you search for the relevant local or central government department then ask the questions you want and finally review, spell check and send it off.

You can also review past requests and responses that were obtained.

Arthur C. Clarke is dead! Not as big a shock as Anthony Minghella’s untimely death also yesterday, but still a shock.

Having read and re-read all of his books and many of his other stories and article over the years, I can safely say that we have lost a great person who managed to fulfil many roles; storyteller, futurist and inventor to name a few.

His collaboration with the cinematic icon Stanley Kubrick (his films), produced one of the most inspiring science fiction films – 2001: A Space Odyssey – of all time, images of which are still reused today – the latest one being the closing shot of the BBC’s last episode of  Last Enemy.

He will be sorely missed by many.

I watched the last episode of the BBC’s Last Enemy last night. The ending really caught me unawares as it was not how I thought it would end, good drama.

The serial seems to have drawn quite a number of negative comments on various blogs, one I read seemed to be more critical of the display of the IPv4 address on the TIA login window and the quality of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) on the TLA system!!! Yes in an ideal world it would be nice to have everything right, but I think these blog writers were somewhat missing the point of the whole series.

For me, the fundamental thread was about one possible end result of the ongoing surveillance society that this government is creating through its various security legislation.

Tag loaded vaccinations; genetically and ethically based tagging; RFID tags smaller than a pin-head just around corner! I thought the content of the programme touched on many areas that I believe are already possible.

The final scene where the main character – Stephen Ezard –  was told what he could (and could not) do over the next few years all controlled by his own unique implanted tag sent a series of shivers down my back, I wonder how many others felt the same?

Somehow we have to find a way of pulling back from this brink of a total surveillance society. Perhaps this blog will be picked up by various Internet scanner (or even Echelon) to show that there is a negative comment in it. I’ve already written to my MP – John Redwood – voicing my concerns, I would encourage everyone else to do the same.

Some of this is already happening…

“ID cards will link your basic personal information to something uniquely yours – like the pattern of your iris, your face shape or your fingerprint.  It will protect your identity from people fraudulently claiming to be you and make it easier for you to prove your identity when you need to – like opening a bank account, moving house, applying for benefits or starting a job.”
Identity & Passport Service

British citizens will be quizzed on up to 200 different pieces of personal information in a 30 minute grilling if they want a passport… Those who fail to convince the bureaucrats they are who they say will be denied a travel document or face a full investigation by anti-fraud experts.  There is no formal appeal process.
Daily Mail, 21 March 2007

Millions of children as young as 11 are to have their fingerprints taken and stored on a Government database, according to leaked Whitehall plans. The Home Office wants to include children in its biometric passport scheme in three years’ time, and automatically transfer their details and fingerprints to the controversial new national identity database when they turn 16.
This is London, 4 March 2007

More on this to follow in other posts.

With the recent news that all MP’s expenses will be released for public scrutiny, it will be interesting to make comparisons with previous records that I covered in a previous post.

I wonder who will top the charts this time?

MP’s previous years expenses…

• MP’s Expenses – March 2006 – March 2007
• MP’s Expenses – March 2005 – March 2006
• MP’s Expenses – March 2004 – March 2005

Makes for some interesting reading.