Barry John Williams' Blog

From the Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5215413/Every-phone-call-email-or-website-visit-to-be-monitored.html

The proposals will give police and security services the power to snoop on every single communication made by the public with the data then likely to be stored in an enormous national database.

The British government's spy-a-thon campaign is getting crazy!

I noticed recently there were more than 20 fixed CCTV cameras able to see me in Glasgow's Central Station concourse - that number does not include the ones on trains and in the shops.

Bring on Paranoid Linux:

an operating system that assumes that its operator is under assault from the government

~Cory Doctorow (Little Brother, 2008)
http://paranoidlinux.org/

In the meantime, use the Tor project:
http://www.torproject.org/

Labels: grumble, politics

My previous blog posts about Lewis Hamilton have all been quite negative. However, time has moved on and now I think the guy is a superb driver - additionally I've found the mute button on my TV remote so I don't have to listen to what he has to say (or more specifically the way he says things).

Anyway, I watched the Belgium Grand Prix today and was thrilled at the last few laps with some of the best racing action I've seen this year between Raikkonen and Hamilton. I thought both drivers drove hard and well - Hamilton doing the best of the two. Initially I was a bit sceptical about the controversial manoeuvre for which Hamilton has been demoted 2 places; I suspected he was a bit too hot out of the corner but watching the footage again clearly shows he was slower and by the fact he passes behind Raikkonen demonstrates he gave the place back to Raikkonen. I completely disagree and am quite dismayed that Hamilton's well deserved win has been stripped from him. I fully support McLaren's appeal and only hope Lewis' win is reinstated.



Whilst I'm backing Massa to win this year's championship, I'd prefer Massa not to win based on stupid decision making in the courts.

Labels: f1, grumble

A Londoner films with his mobile phone camera (with permission) his anti-terror stop and search. To be honest, I was quite surprised that this guy was allowed to film - but since it was in a public place, I suppose it is legal so long as he doesn't profit from the footage. One might expect at some future point some jurisdiction will come into place covering this nonsense under the official secrets act or something similar banning proles from even discussing it.

As far as I am concerned, this is utterly pointless and as helpful as the first police officer is, he just doesn't convince me this 25 minute stop-and-searches was useful.

I am even more appalled by the fact the second officer doesn't even provide identification! Albeit very unlikely, he could be a real live terrorist (if they exist) in a perfect anti-terror-officer disguise planting those oft advertised weapons of mass destruction in this poor chaps bag!

Welcome to Britain ladies and gentlemen!

Labels: grumble

I just read this article on the BBC about a strippergram sent to a 16 year old at school on his birthday as a present. Looks like it was a mistake on behalf of the company organising it as his Parents ordered the "present".

I've just a few queries about this particular incident, the first being; How did she get into the class? Singer, stripper, whatever - they shouldn't have even been allowed on school grounds. Second; Why did they even allow her to start - I'm sure it would have been pretty obvious what she was.

Unless of course her uniform was so good as to pass as a real police officer in which case. Calling all weirdos and terrorists, take heed of this proven method of entry.

Utterly ridiculous, a simple mistake by the stripper company/parents, horrific error of judgement by the school. The school are apparently investigating - I wonder if they find themselves blameless?

Labels: grumble

Lewis Hamilton is a big headed, arrogant and sore loser. Every single press interview he gives, makes me dislike him further. I remember back at race 5 or 6 when Lewis failed to get onto the Podium, when asked how he felt, he responded that he wasn't quite sure what to do since "this is the first time I don't have to go to the Podium".

On the linked BBC article Lewis Hamilton is quoted:

I've never felt favourite but it's always easier when you're chasing someone than defending.

Nothing to do with the other Driver's skills of course? The almighty Schumacher never had this problem!

Yes Lewis, you are a good driver and in the next few years when you've found your feet and honed your skills - you will be unbeatable. At the moment though, you aren't. The first corner at Spa proved this - Alonso kept his ground and you lost out!

Personally I think Hamilton's points have all come from the start of the season when he did so well - since then he's been in the top 5 - but not at the top. The start of the season was very convenient for him, because of the hours he put in at McLaren training simulators which none of the other drivers of any car had been able to do at their teams.

Unfortunately for Lewis, his luck's running out faster than his track experience is gaining.

Labels: f1, grumble

I sold my iMac earlier this week and in the process of completing the online "paperwork" I pressed the button to print a packing slip.

This usually prepared a nice label which I could print and affix to my parcel ready to take to the post office. Except this time was a little different...

It asked me for the weight of the package (14Kgs), Paypal already knew the source and destination so I had a selection of postal options to choose which covered this journey. I chose "Parcelforce 24" and was given a quote of £11.99 - really good value! So I accepted, paid for this through paypal and instead of a nice address label - I actually printed the barcoded label for ParcelForce! All I had to do was drop it off at a post office or arrange a driver collection.

Now this was where the fun came in!

I'd chosen "drop off at Post Office" since they couldn't offer a (free) collection from my house today so I wondered up to the post office and they didn't really know what to do; washed their hands of it and claimed they weren't touching it because it takes business away from the Post Office. However, they did offer to post it if I paid the difference between the £11.99 I paid online and the £23.50 they were going to charge. Yep you guessed it - I turned around and wondered out slugging this oversized, overweight package underarm...

Turns out the post office were wrong to turn me away due to the fact I had all the completed paperwork and barcodes affixed correctly - but not much I can do about that now. I travelled down to Dixon's Blazes and dropped the package off at the Parcel Force depot and it travelled out tonight.

When I spoke to Parcel Force they explained that the Post Office should have accepted it since they are Parcel Force collection points. The lady I spoke to explained that a lot of them don't realise the discount offered by ParcelForce/Paypal for eBay purchases - at 50% it's awesome and the lucky winner of my auction got a £10 refund from the original P&P charge!

Next time you sell something on eBay - check it out for a real saving in postage! It may take away business from your local Post Office, but at those savings with free collection - Post Office, get with the times!

Labels: ebay, grumble, review

The computer game Manhunt 2 has been rejected classification by the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) - an unelected group of people who decide what is acceptable for the British public to watch.

This game's predecessor was given an 18 rating which apparently was at the "top end of the scale". Manhunt 2 clearly surpasses that, no doubt due to it's probable increased graphics realism and something which I read separately; the Wii version's ability to control stabbing and mutilation by performing the motion with the wiimote...

Whilst I'm not one for buying this particular genre of games I would have like to have seen the wiimote stabbing action purely out of curiousity, not out of some hidden wanton desire which the BBFC rejection now makes this appear.

a range of unjustifiable harm risks to both adults and minors

Let's quickly skim over the adult part. If a person starts to commit these acts based on a computer game, then that person has a problem. It's not the games fault!

They should perhaps do a lab test - pull a few hundred people of the streets, let them play the game for a few hours a day for a full month and release them into the wild and see what they do. I doubt very much they will all turn into killing machines*. Although, you may find that a fraction of those that do have tendencies for violence may be catalysed by the computer game - but since (I presume) that number is quite small, why stop the rest of us. It's a bit like banning peanuts because some of the population is allergic to them.

Now to the minors, sorry, that's why it should be an 18. 18 means, don't let people who's ages are less than 18 watch or play... Let's assume it did get an 18 classification. I'm not ignorant enough to realise that kids would get hold of it because "it's cool". Some of their parents would have even bought it for them, their friends would play it, etc. This is a decision the parents should be making based on the age rating and it really should become an offense just like (unsupervised) underage drinking is. Perhaps there is a useful application of DRM here.

Furthermore, rejecting the game now makes it even more 'cool' in the average kid's eyes because they'll have to import it from the US and play it on their chipped PS2s...

Come on, where there is a will there is a way. Why bother banning games - you'll still be able to get hold of them. It's not going to stop it, is it?

*If someone makes a movie out of this then I had the idea first!

Labels: computers, games, grumble, software, wii

Lewis Hamilton is definitely a Formula One driver to watch, however, I wonder just how much modern technology in the F1 cars is helping Lewis achieve the results he is currently enjoying.

I was a bit surprised to read that McLaren are being probed over possible team orders when they requested Lewis to 'take it easy' toward the end of the Monaco Grand Prix. How is this team orders? It simply stops Lewis Hamilton taking out Alonso and losing McLaren a one-two finish! Common sense!

Why is everyone saying he was robbed of his first win? Yes, he is quick - he has done well in motorsports before F1 (See this Lewis Hamilton article on Wikipedia), however it is still his fifth F1 Grand Prix and he is proving he is doing well! Why should we be expecting him to be winning every race?

I think this media coverage is giving Lewis Hamilton a bit of an ego now as I have read that he acknowledges the 'team orders' so that he didn't pressurise Alonso into making a mistake - and then perhaps colliding with him after such a mistake.

I was told to take it easy, so there was no point pressuring him into a mistake, and then if he had made a mistake to crash into him, so it was best to finish one-two.
Quote taken from article on BBC Sport

I watched on the edge of my seat Alonso being pressured by Michael Schumacher for the best part of most races and not making any mistakes. I doubt he would have in Monaco just because it was Hamilton.

Alonso deserved to win - he was definitely the fastest all weekend.

Labels: f1, grumble, sports

Now that we've found out that over 100,000 ballots have been rejected due to being 'spoilt' I think they should all be recounted using common sense rather than a computer.

I strongly believe that most of the spoilt papers will be because somebody has placed a '1' where there should be a cross and a cross where there should be a number.

They should recount the papers such that a cross where there should be number = 1 and the number 1 where there should be a cross should be a cross. This would discard second, third and fourth choices of course - but would come up with a more accurate result.

Better yet, rerun the election in a few months time. I read somewhere on the internet that if this had have happened in Africa - Britain would be first shouting for a rerun!

Labels: election 2007, grumble, politics

I signed the petition asking for a debate on the suggested pay as you go road tax scheme. As such, I'm now expecting an email from Tony Blair explaining why he thinks this is a good idea. I think this will be a tough letter to write! As I understand it the main aim is to cut road congestion - the second aim will probably be to cut carbon emissions too. My retailiation to both of these is what are the alternatives? Bus, Rail, Plane, Ship? I think not - in practice people don't really have a choice...

I only have a short journey into work in the mornings, it is already quite expensive to park in the city of Glasgow for more than 3 hours so it is usually cheaper for me to catch the Bus or the Train - the Bus takes 45 minutes, is every 10 minutes, smells and is too busy to get a seat at peak times; the train takes 20 minutes (starts and ends at the same places as the train) and is every 30 minutes, reasonably reliable and again too busy for me to get a seat a peak times; obviously cannot do plane or ship for this journey. Luckily I can start and leave work at off peak times allowing me to get a seat, so I go by train - the bus is £2.50 and train is £2.70, but the train is much quicker. This is a common sense choice for me.

My wife works as a school teacher, she must be in work at 8.30am (rush hour). It is a 15 minute car journey. Impractical to travel by train due to the distance of that line's stations from our home and the school. There are buses that travel close by our house and the school, but that would require a change of bus and travelling on the same bus as other school kids (not usually a good idea in this country). Therefore Car is the only practical solution here. Again a common sense choice.

In response to emissions; we own property in Spain and we drive there. It takes about 2 to 3 days of driving through wonderful scenery (once through the Eurotunnel that is) and is a joyous and relaxing drive. We do travel on the mostly on the French autoroutes and the Spanish toll roads. It costs us about 90 euros (£60) to travel through France and Spain - a total of 1200 miles and get full use of the ample rest stops on the French motorways. In terms of carbon emmisions; a plane jouney would emit 0.5 tonnes per passenger each way (total of 2 tonnes for 2 people return); driving emits 0.5 tonnes each way (total of 1 tonne return) and the train emits 0.35 tonnes per person each way (total of 1.4 tonnes for 2 poeple return). As far as I understand this - taking the car is the most environmentally friendly way of getting myself, my wife and my dog to Spain (in a 2.5 litre Diesel Van). Therefore car is the most environmentally friendly way of travelling.

I am hoping that Tony Blair's email to me will explain how he plans to upgrade Britain's public transport systems to cope with the obvious increase of passengers at peak times. How he is going to ensuring that those passengers arrive at their places of business just as relaxed as they would have done by car. His plans to remove the statutory annual road tax and remove the tax on fuel reducing it to European prices (in Spain it costs 0.90 euro cents per litre - about 60p).

Perhaps labour will make the congestion charges variable depending on what time you travel at. This could make it extremely unfair - and expensive - to those who cannot adjust their working hours.

I look forward to read what he'll say...

Labels: grumble

I think this whole 'racism' issue in the Big Brother house has gotten completely out of control. Wikipedia are running an article which outlines exactly what comments have been made in the Celebrity Big Brother House.

Last I checked there was a black person in the BB house as well as an indian (I don't know all of their names so I won't use any), yet all the attention is focused around the indian. Why? Surely if they are all being racist it would be across the board - perhaps they are just bullying the indian girl because she is annoying - like that guy you know.

The comments I've heard are - calling the indian girl, "the indian girl" - Guess that includes me then. The second comment was about the Londoner not wanting to touch the food because they didn't know where the Indian's had been. I don't want to eat food unless I know where the preparers hands have been either.

Just think of this: How many times has an English person called people up her the 'f**cking scottish'? Perhaps me - the 'bl**dy irish'. Jeez, I'm blonde too...

People should grow up and realise - yes it is bullying, but it isn't racist bullying. As soon as people call it racist, then become racist.

This is no more derogatory than an Edinbugger calling a Glaswegian a 'weegie' or a weegie calling someone from Edinburgh an 'Edinbugger'...

Please move along - there isn't anything to see here.

Labels: grumble

My Palm Z22 crashed over the weekend never to return to life... The palm displayed a repeating pattern of coloured noise across the screen during usage, then again during a failed hotsync. My mac and palm were pretty much in sync so I don't think anything has been lost, but the Z22 never survived the second reset. There are 2 reset systems available - one a simple reboot and another is a complete refresh of the system, neither worked and the unit simply 'hangs' at the Palm Powered screen.

I purchased it in April at a Dixons Tax Free store and thought I'd take it along to one of the new Currys.digital stores. They were not particularly helpful, being totally obsessed with the charger - the Z22 charges over USB so you can use either a power charger or a USB lead but they really couldn't be bother to help (this was the Jamaica Street store in Glasgow). However, they did give me Palm's technical support number which I then called when I got home. Palm have agreed to fix it under warranty and I should get a repaired Z22 in the next 2 weeks.

If a bricks and mortar store really can't assist in after sales support with just a little more effort - why should I use them? There is now no difference between purchasing something at Amazon/Expansys and Currys/Comet other than price... That Treo 680 on Expansys is looking more and more appealing...

Labels: aboutme, grumble