Random musings of a child progeny
I’m thinking about home more and more as it gets closer and closer to the time to go back to the UK after my round-the-world trip. I guess it’s only natural. It’s been interesting comparing different cities and cultures and how they do things.
I’m wondering what state the tram work in Edinburgh is at. If I’ve ranted about this to you before then I apologise but an experience I had on the tram in Melbourne last week has rekindled my annoyance.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a good rant at something. I was expecting the airlines to be a likely target for my attentions for causing me to miss a connection or losing my bags. Instead, it’s my bank that are bearing the brunt of my wrath at the moment.
I’m working on a basic premise for the next Incredible Hulk film. It’s quite a simple plot line really: Bruce Banner is on holiday in Australia and is trying to withdraw some money from his Alliance and Leicester account using an ATM.
My rule of thumb is if I can mention something in the pub and my non-geek friends have heard of it then it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a success. Even among my switched-on geek brethren Twitter isn’t all that popular.
Just when I had something possibly exciting to broadcast Twitter was unavailable again. I could have sworn that the monkey man himself, Steve Ballmer, walked in to the restaurant last night. I tried again and then checked Twitter’s status to find that it wasn’t actually down at all. It just wasn’t working.
At the risk of invoking Evan’s ire, Twitter is next to useless at the moment. Okay, so it may have broken the news of the Chinese earthquake. It can get you out of jail. There are stories of the LA firefighters using it and it can even tell you when to water your plants. Twistori is interesting but Twitter needs a sticky killer app before the masses adopt it but before that can happen it really has to get the stability problems sorted out.
Switching hosts and abandoning Ruby on Rails may be a start but there’s a long way to go.
An obvious post title I know, but you’d better get used to them.
I had a wander around Brooklyn this morning to get my bearings then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, down Broadway and Wall Street to Battery Park. And that’s where the next hour or so of fun began.
For some reason the Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island queuing system is overly complicated and woefully under explained. Don’t be tempted to join the large queue at the pier straight away. First you’ll have to queue for the Castle Clinton and then once inside that you can buy a ticket for the ferry excursion. If you actually want to ascend the Statue of Liberty it’s at this point that you need to make sure that you buy a ticket that has “Monument Access” on it. Despite the tempting savings, if you plan on visiting several tourist attractions don’t buy a New York pass as I did because you won’t be able to climb the Statue. Nobody will tell you this and there is no way to actually buy a ticket once you’re on the island itself.
It turns out that if I did have the correct type ticket and had climbed up inside the Statue I would have missed the last boat to Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum. Besides, it was getting all a bit too Hitchcockian for my liking.
I didn’t really have enough time in the museum before the last boat back to Manhattan. It was a very quick tour around but still hugely interesting (despite a couple of interactive exhibits being out of order) and in such an impressively restored building. The beautiful Guastavino tile ceiling in the Great Hall stopped me in my tracks for a good few minutes.
I decided to end the day and head back to the ranch via the World Trade Center site where some people where busy taking photos which I found a bit ghoulish to be honest.
Recently there was some amount of ill feeling directed toward Apple after they started installing their Safari Internet browser with their iTunes software update. (I also just noticed that “up to date” is no longer hyphenated in OS X 10.5 Leopard Software Update but that’s a discussion for another day.)
While this in itself is bad enough behaviour for any software company, it is not the main annoyance I have with their practices. I like to keep things organised how I like them. Like my “Start Menu” for instance.
Every single frickin’ time that I update iTunes (and Quicktime) Apple deems it acceptable for them to place a couple of shortcuts in my Start Menu, Quick Launch area and on my Desktop which I then have to delete.
US Patent law is frankly in somewhat of a mess. Any system that allows a man to hold a patent on a method for playing on a swing needs or awarded on a staple element of computing (like the linked list) to be looked at in my opinion. The Patent Office just doesn’t have the staff to give each application the diligence it needs and the subsequent backlog is increasing as is the number of submarine patents and patents awarded despite overwhelming prior art. Obviousness and prior art is supposed to invalidate a patent but this doesn’t stop anyone from trying their luck. Amazon are frequently quoted in geek forums for this. Trying to cash in once someone big enough does something of note (Smartphones) or popular (online games) that may possibly be covered by a vague patent is big business.
Finally, the tide may finally be turning.
Speaking as a developer I was glad to hear about a project that aims to address the inherent problems with the system with regard to software. Imaginatively called End Software Patents, it seeks to highlight the absurdity in the idea that source code and natural mathematics can somehow be patented.
Microsoft has been sabre-rattling of late, claiming that Linux infringes on hundreds of patents that they hold (read: purchased). Co-incidentally, they do have a very pertinent patent for detecting user frustration when using their software.
Just as I was beginning to think that the UK was understanding some of the problems with legal aspects of software and the implications of software patents it looks like we’re heading in the same direction. The UK government is currently embroiled in a legal case with Symbian which will hopefully clarify things.
Just don’t get me started on gene patents.
During preparation for my impending travels a few snippets caught my eye.
Airports are obviously a huge exercise in logistics. Getting through security can sometimes be time consuming but terahertz radiation scanners1 are one way of speeding things up. Obviously some people will be concerned at the thought of such intimate searches. At Heathrow’s shiny new terminal, if you’re not at the security gates 35 minutes before your flight is due to leave then you’re shit outta luck and will need to book yourself on to a new flight. It all may seem obvious but Wired have produced a guide to (not my pun) flying through security.
There is the argument that we’re all being encouraged to get through security checks early so we have to spend more time in the shops on the other side. Likewise with the fluid restrictions and not being able to bring your own drinks through – we are forced to buy them instead. People may argue that this is an obvious preventative measure to take but if it was such an immediate threat, why did Australia announce that they would be implementing similar plans three months ahead of actually doing so? I’m not the only one to have issues with these “security measures” Tim Bray has problems with his toothpaste. I’m kind of glad that I don’t have a MacBook Air to confuse matters even more.
Heathrow is home to the UK’s largest WLAN and is also forging ahead with technology in order to try and improve performance in all areas. Having trialled RFID baggage tagging last September a larger six-month trial is now underway. Speaking as a victim of luggage loss myself, this is welcome news.
Something that I’d never thought of before is the whole boarding process. This can make a huge difference in turnaround times. An older boarding process blew the trumpet of free-for-all unordered boarding that is popular for the budget airlines but now an astrophysicist has had another idea on how to improve things even further. If vast inroads are made in this area then the need for new airport terminals can be reduced.
1 If you can remember the giant x-ray security scanner in Total Recall then you’re not too far from having seen this in practice already.
I opened a new current account ahead of my travels next month having seen the Nationwide “proud to be different” advertisements on the television. They are the only high street bank that doesn’t charge for using your card for purchases or withdrawals abroad. I think that the Post Office also provide an account with this feature but they’re not in my good books at the moment.
What worried me when opening this new account was not having to produce any identification: no passport, drivers license, utility bill or anything at all that would prove my address or even my name. Being found on the electoral roll was good enough apparently. Services like www.192.com sell this information and more although getting my mail would seemingly do just as well. This is where my gripe with the Royal Mail and the Post Office comes into play.
The postal service in Edinburgh is woeful. Despite having my name on the door I am guaranteed to receive mail for someone I’ve never heard of several times a week. Less often I get mail for the wrong flat number or house number and every now and again I get mail for the wrong street and postcode entirely. Friends of mine have the mail for their whole stairwell left piled all together on the bottom step. Considering that our mail isn’t delivered until after 11am these days I think that it’s surprising that we get any mail at all as everyone in our tenement is out at work and there is nobody at home to let the postman into the stair.
Banks do try and make sending you things like new cards more secure by not sending you the card and PIN in the same envelope or on the same day. The Royal Mail are the weak link in the security chain and sending things like pre-approved credit cards in the post are obviously prime opportunities for the criminal fraternity.
Of course, reducing our energy consumption isn’t enough if we want to minimise our impact on planet Earth. A major overhaul of our consumerist attitude is also needed. My great aunt recently had to get a new washing machine, the old one having lasted (along with the fridge and oven) since 1972 and she “only had to have ‘the man’ out once to fix it” in all that time.
Will anything we use now be functional in 30 years time? In this disposable age and era of inbuilt redundancy things that last even half that are a rarity.
Thanks to Amber for bringing clip this to my attention.