tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102547802008-05-20T13:34:30.849+01:00Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-2813147564672682322008-05-20T13:03:00.006+01:002008-05-20T13:34:30.895+01:00

As if Gordon Brown hasn't enough disasters on his hands, the government are working on another one, the Times reports: Big Brother wants complete records of everyone you phone, all your emails, everyone you talk to on the internet - in fact details of every time you go on the Internet - and it wants them in a big, central database that it (for want of a better word) controls. Unfortunately,

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-10313872698120969542008-04-21T11:31:00.001+01:002008-05-02T15:52:08.172+01:00

BMI did it again. I arrived in Belfast, but my luggage didn't. Fortunately it caught up with me a few hours later. And maybe it was SL Airlines' fault instead. Or Heathrow (though I don't think they can still blame terminal 5). I think I'm getting used to it by now. At least it gave me an excuse to catch some sleep before driving off to my niece's first birthday party.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-77901556177543269282008-03-29T15:35:00.002Z2008-03-29T15:43:35.550Z

I thought that avoiding Heathrow terminal 5 and BA would be enough, but it seems my business travel is true to form. today i'm in Cairo, and my luggage is... who knows where. After I get to the front of the queue I'l find out where my stuff is. But then I'm off to meet some colleagues - and there is apparently a mall under their hotel. here goes... apparently my bag is still in heathrow.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-49044745715776670532008-03-22T14:06:00.007Z2008-03-22T14:46:32.468Z

You know a language has arrived when the Bible is translated into it! Psalm 23: 1 Ceiling Cat iz mai sheprd (which is funni if u knowz teh joek about herdin catz LOL.) He givz me evrithin I need. 2 He letz me sleeps in teh sunni spot an haz liek nice waterz r ovar thar. 3 He makez mai soul happi an maeks sure I go teh riet wai for him. Liek thru teh cat flap insted of out teh opin windo

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-44334726720551501302008-03-13T03:05:00.003Z2008-03-13T03:22:17.297Z

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-5878962437481575752008-03-13T00:29:00.000Z2008-03-13T03:34:14.495Z

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-47537535397549290662008-02-12T17:51:00.000Z2008-02-12T17:51:09.380Z

The UK Government has just proposed [BBC] creating a special benefit for the increasingly desperate recording and film industries - and it's going to be funded by increasing what you pay for the Internet! Here's how it works. All UK Internet Service Providers will have to police their networks (read, snoop on your internet traffic) for signs that someone, somewhere may be downloading music. If

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-47843654649890759262008-01-10T05:35:00.002Z2008-01-10T05:45:40.959Z

Colombo is certainly warmer than Belfast. There are other differences as well. Yesterday I realised that driving lessons too are not the same - though given the traffic, that's not so surprising. The appointed time was 1.30 so, naturally enough, when we arrived we were told that our instructor would not be there until 2pm. At least Maithrie was told (What do you think, Paul). We sat in the

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-73659981150489917062008-01-04T13:58:00.000Z2008-01-04T14:05:40.207Z

At least that's what they were doing when I got home last night. It's quite an impressive snowman, isn't it? Putting the head on must have been quite a job. Now I think I'll go somewhere warm.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-34197692166732979282008-01-04T11:31:00.000Z2008-01-04T11:44:10.378Z

A slight change in the weather, and suddenly cars were moving slowly sideways at traffic lights, and sliding down hills. We're not used to this sort of thing. Finally it looks Christmassy. Some of my neighbours were even building a huge snowman last night.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-27185279970543687142007-12-29T14:16:00.000Z2007-12-29T14:43:02.259Z

That's what it says on the US Dollar, anyway, and some Christian ministries have an awful lot of dollars. But does God have much to do with it? What, exactly, do these people do with the money they collect? That's the question that US Senator Charles Grassley and the Senate Committee on Finance have been asking (PDF) of a number of very rich organisations in the USA. Ministries run by Benny Hin,

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-70103627894962444362007-12-17T22:40:00.000Z2007-12-17T22:49:47.797Z

According to a Facebook application that lets you compare your friends, I am... wait for it... Most punctual.Person who can drink the most.No, really, It's official! The computer says yes!

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-54092498788625813822007-12-15T02:37:00.000Z2007-12-15T03:26:51.253Z

Gordon Brown is turning out even more weaselly than Tony Blair. After promising a referendum on the European Constitution, he's decided that the virtually identical European Treaty does not need a referendum after all. And when it was being signed in Lisbon on Thursday, Gordon Brown arranged to turn up late, so he wouldn't need to be in the group photo. It might alarm the voters, or something.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-10375985606513372302007-12-11T00:37:00.000Z2007-12-11T02:08:05.469Z

I've just been reading the Education Minister's tedious and self-congratulatory statement on how she is going to truly transform our system into a world class system fit for the 21st century (download PDF). One new policy is to abolish academic selection, and replace it with selection by parental income. Those who can afford houses near the good schools will get in. Those who can't, won't.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-88396692989414998872007-11-30T03:27:00.000Z2007-11-30T04:26:20.339Z

It seems that an English teacher working in the Sudan was threatened with 40 lashes and a year's imprisonment for stirring up religious hatred. What was her crime? She had taken a vote among her mostly muslim 6-7 year old pupils on what to call a teddy bear. They ignored her suggestion and voted 20 to 3 to name it Mohammad, after one of the boys in the class. Two months later a secretary in

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-25730561929274309612007-11-28T13:59:00.000Z2007-11-28T14:12:47.548Z

OK, maybe a couple of trees: Innocent, the nice smoothie people, are planting trees to help rural communities in India and Africa (see how here). There are even virtual images of two of them: one tree, and another tree. If I keep drinking the smoothies, there may be more.

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-13397417429322523592007-11-23T18:46:00.000Z2007-11-23T18:59:49.182Z

Banking details of all families with kids in the UK, and details of their kids, have gone missing. Lost in the post, apparently. This is exactly why the government cannot be trusted with the enormous interlinked collection of data on its citizens that their ID Card scheme would require. Mistakes happen in any system, especially if security is not considered at the outset. The bigger the

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-63368504001962299402007-11-08T09:49:00.000Z2007-11-08T09:51:08.946Z

If you liked Douglas Hofstadter's books, you'll enjoy this! I just found a rather unusual web cartoon site - check it out at xkcd.com. They even use a creative commons licence, so you can copy their stuff for personal use. But they warn you: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-59981196084613824812007-11-06T15:35:00.000Z2007-11-06T15:46:53.798Z

Anyone who is puzzled by the peculiar EU rules on bringing "liquids" onto planes (you can, as long as they are in a resealable clear plastic bag, and they are in containers less than 100ml) will be pleased that sanity is dawning - in the European Parliament of all places. They have asked the European Commission to repeal the ban, unless new facts emerge. They also, quite sensibly, ask for

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-35857947793198723312007-11-05T13:19:00.000Z2007-11-05T15:39:36.156Z

Last week I saw something new - door to door art salesmen. Young women actually, but never mind. They seem to roam the world, selling paintings. Some interesting pictures too. I think it's these people! (photo by numstead, creative commons licence)

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-43210474648474724982007-11-05T12:56:00.000Z2007-11-05T15:09:20.339Z

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-12925823322613810062007-11-05T00:12:00.000Z2007-11-06T11:21:48.438Z

Some pictures from Sri Lanka... There are a few more stuck on my phone... I did say they might have to wait a bit :-/

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-11251445191443871642007-10-07T18:31:00.000+01:002007-10-07T18:40:13.040+01:00

I'm in Sri Lanka, where it's warmer than at home, and sometimes even wetter. It's not as cheap as it used to be - from a local perspective, things are getting very expensive. But I've got a local SIM for my mobile phone, and call and text charges are better than O2 roaming. Veeeeeerrry much better! No insightful posts about the state of the country today - it's getting late. And pictures will

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-43316755799793004692007-09-25T07:01:00.000+01:002007-09-25T07:25:11.227+01:00

Maybe I'm being too cynical, but when I got round to reading the Times this weekend, I discovered that Gordon Brown is taking an axe to the Ministerial code of conduct that he had said needed to be strengthened. The sleaze and scandal under previous administrations resulted in a strengthening of the rules in 1997. Ministers were required to obey "the letter and the spirit" of these rules - and

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10254780.post-39153647806451669472007-09-24T20:08:00.000+01:002007-09-25T04:52:16.839+01:00

The Catholic Church has asked its members to stop giving money to Amnesty International, and the Catholic auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor has advised that school links with Amnesty should be severed. It's because Amnesty International now supports abortion for rape victims in war zones. It's fair enough to stop funding organisations that campaign for things you disagree with - indeed, it's a

Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551433393657324982noreply@blogger.com