Relive the 60′s & 70′s

Posted on June 21st, 2006 in Environment,Politics by Ross Wynne

It wasn’t long ago since our parents (& some of us older students) wore badges with mantras like Save the Whales & Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. It’s a shame that we’re now having to refight these battles all over again due to nothing more than apathy…

Gordon Brown is expected to signal that he wants to keep and renew Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent.

BBC News – Brown signals support for Trident

For the first time since ages, the pro-whaling nations won an important victory at the International Whaling Commission today with the adoption of the St. Kitts and Nevis Declaration.

Importantly the IWC says that the moratorium on whaling is “no longer necessary” as scientists agree that many whale species and stocks are abundant. The 1982 moratorium decision, in effect since 1986, is the basis of the extremely contentious situation in the IWC.

The IWC today declared its “commitment to normalizing the functions of the IWC”, in essence that means to work towards the normalisation of commercial whaling. This includes the IWC resuming its regulatory role with respect to the management of whaling, such as deciding catch quotas based on best available scientific knowledge.

High North Alliance – Historic victory to whaling nations

On the other hand check out the ‘Harpoon Cartoons‘ if you’re a committed pro-whaler.

A Fair Bush?

Posted on June 21st, 2006 in Politics by Ross Wynne

Having vividly remembering Bush calling all the inmates of Guantanimo Bay “bad people” before a single trial had been held I was somewhat amazed that his advisors had not told him to keep to the innocent until proven guilty mantra.

Yet again though he’s managed to prejudge a court hearing…

Mr Bush pledged to send many detainees back to their home countries, but said he wanted to put some on trial because they were “cold-blooded killers”.

“I’d like to end Guantanamo. I’d like it to be over with,” he said.

But he added that there were some detainees “who need to be tried in US courts”.

“They will murder somebody if they are let out on the street.”

Nice to see he believes in a fair hearing…

BBC News

The HD Con

Posted on June 21st, 2006 in Computing by Ross Wynne

So you’re young, impulsive, already spending that money you know you’ll be getting from your SSIA/savings/first wage packet… So what will you buy?
If you’re female you’ll (aledgedly) spend it on holidays, clothes, mobile phone etc…

However if you’re male you’ll inevitably spend it on various gadgets and gizmos. And number one on that list this summer… The 42″ widescreen HDTV you’ve been salvating over because the media keep saying it’s the next big thing.

Well sorry to burst your bubble guys but it’s a waste of time (unless you’re an Xbox 360 owner)!

When Sky and the BBC anounced that they were launching HDTV channels you would have taken it for granted that there would be HD content on them…

Well you were wrong! It turns out that in the entire push for the HD revolution someone forget to produce HD quality programs for transmission. According to Sky not one of their programs on their SkyHD channel were actually recorded using HD. That goes too for the BBC. Although the BBC does promise that all their programs will be in HD come 2010.
So the moral of the story is:

If you don’t have an XBox360 then don’t bother getting a “HD Ready” TV. They’ll come down in price every month you hold out until 2010!

Can I have Chilly Chips with that…

Posted on June 21st, 2006 in Computing,Hardware by Ross Wynne

Given my love affair with computing I couldn’t miss the latest news story going around about the new microchip that was recently tested that produced speeds of 500Ghz using a basic Silicon-Germanium compound. It turns out that the chip could only go that fast when only 4 degrees above absolute zero.

The thing that has struck me though is the temperture that they used in getting this chip going is actually not that exotic when used in space. When a spacecraft is shielded from the sun the components inside would reach about 5K (5 degrees above absolute zero).

Hence this type of processor could easily have major applications in space telescopes and space craft. I would conceed however that the energy needed to run this processor is probably prohibitive at the moment.

BBC News Article

Hello world!

Posted on June 21st, 2006 in General by Ross Wynne

Welcome to my blog…

After having set up blogs for several friends I’ve taken to biting the bullet and seeing what all the fuss is about!

It’ll be mostly about stuff I find interesting on the web as well as various happenings in TCD.

Enjoy…