Rob's Blog - February 2004

Fluorescent Lights And Pylons

Whilst waiting for a take away curry at Tasty Bites in Hampden Park last night, I was reading a copy of the Daily Mail. One story caught my eye in particular. It was of people standing under pylons with fluorescent lights lit just by the radiation from the power cables.

Being fascinated by this, I took a quick trip to B&Q's to get a cheap fluorescent tube. This evening Kev and myself went walking under high voltage cables with this light. To our surprise it did flicker into life just under the power lines.

It's certainly worrying to think that the tube can light up just by holding it under power cables. If the tube can do that, just what is the electric field doing to your body?

Another thing I've appreciated conducting this experiment is the extent of light pollution in Eastbourne. It was hard to find somewhere dark enough to clearly see the light generated by the electric field from the power cables.

Scouting For Boys Used By Al-Qaeda?

The News Of The World claims that the UK government has blacklisted Baden Powell's Scouting For Boys as it could be used as a training manual by al-Qaeda.

The Terrorism Act 2000 was supposed to cover bomb-making guides like The Terrorists' Handbook, but Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews says the law is so broad he's seen it on a list of blacklisted books.

The Scout Association said, Our movement condemns all acts of terrorism.

Scouting For Boys is available on Amazon for all you wannabe terrorists and cub scouts.

Working Tax Credits

After reading an inland revenue advert, You don't need to have kids to be eligible for tax credits, I thought i'd check out the tax credits website to see if I qualify.

Based on the information you have entered, your household is not entitled to Child Tax Credit but is entitled to Working Tax Credit from April 2003.

Oooh!!!

However, my excitement was shortlived, as the credit was valued at 0.00.

It seems the asp.net developers of the site should have put in an if block to check for credits of 0.00 as they're not really a credits are they?

Countries I've Visitied

Currently doing the rounds is the website where you can mark off the countries you have visited.

It would appear I need to get travelling a bit more.

So far I have visited France, Brazil and St. Lucia.

I would have thought there should have been an entry for the Channel Islands seeing as they are not part of the United Kingdom, but Crown Dependancies. I could have counted Jersey as well then.

Animals Hidden In The Tube Map

Have you ever noticed any animals on the underground?

Apparently there is an Elephant, Pig, Dog, Whale, Bird, Stag, Fish and a Cat all hidden in the London Tube map.

Look at the animals on the underground website to see just where.

Strange Sign On Road

This sign has appeared on painted on a road on my way to Hampden Park station.

What is it? A mini helicopter landing pad? A sign showing where the nearest hologram lives? Or something boring like where to find the nearest fire hydrant?

Ash In The Office

Ash are in the office at present doing a live webchat for Kerrang!

They're just doing a quick photoshoot opposite my desk, so here's a snap taken with my trusty Nokia 7250.

It is Ash Wednesday afterall.

Update: Here is a copy of the offical image Kitt was taking when I took my photo.

RDF And Barcodes

Chris Heathcote has the really interesting idea of using RDF as barcodes.

Barcodes in Japan use something called a QR Code, and the format is in the public domain.

Camera phones are able to decode these images so they are a great way of loading short data into a mobile device.

Time for me to read up on this and maybe have a play with the technology at the weekend.

ATM Card Skimmers In London

Slashdot has an interesting story about a virtual autopsy of an ATM card skimmer.

The skimmer was found on an ATM in London and consists of a card reader and camera. These devices are used by crooks to copy the data from your bank card and capture your pin number so they can clone the card and withdraw money from your account.

Most interesting of all were the pictures of the card reader and camera.

Homemade Pizza Recipe

My delicious recipe for homemade pizza is now up in the recipes section of the site.

This was a great success on Sunday and amazing when eaten warm straight from the oven.

Enjoy!

Piranha Found In River Thames

The BBC is reporting that a piranha has been found in the River Thames.

A seagull is believed to have dropped the carnivorous fish on a boats deck, and it had only just died, with marks from the seagull's beak still on its back.

It is thought that the fishes owner had only just released it into the river as the fish cannot live in waters cooler than 15C for more than a few days.

Just when you thought it was safe to back into the water... (cue Jaws theme music.)

Keane To Play Eastbourne In May

Keane are playing in Eastbourne on the 8th May 2004.

You can buy tickets to see Keane at Aloud.com.

I have mine already!

Mobiles On The Newcastle Underground

Users of the Tyne and Wear Metro can use mobiles phones whilst travelling on underground trains now.

This is the first time there has been complete coverage on a UK underground system.

I hope this doesn't come to The Tube in London. It's unpleasant and noisy enough travelling in rush hour without someone shouting into a mobile next to you.

I'm Not So Keen On Horses Now

Deagostini have been in touch and asked me to remove the I Love Horses ringtone I created. So if you are visiting hoping to download a copy, I'm afraid it's no longer available.

I'd of thought it would have been great advertising with their catchy jingle going off at random throughout the country, but alas it is not to be.

Alex Wilson Salsa Band

I'm currently enjoying the latin music of Alex Wilson at the Colchester Arts Centre.

Salsa baby!

Duracell CPU Load Monitor

I'm going to have to try to build one of these. This website has details of how to build a linux CPU load monitor using a Duracell battery tester.

The battery has a small tester that shows the charge left in it when two white dots are pressed. This shows up as a little bar graph. It works by using a layer of conductive ink that heats up when an electrical current passes through it. Used with a thermally-activated dye, this can be used to build up a basic bar graph.

This is just the kind of geek gimic that appeals to me.

Dr Atkins Was Clinically Obese

It appears that diet "guru" Dr Atkins was clinically obese when he died last year.

A leaked medical report says he weighed 116kg and had a history of heart problems.

Veronica Atkins published a statement saying that the her late husbands diet had not lead to his heart problems.

The diet is high in protein and low in carbohydrates and has lead to warnings from groups like the British Heart Foundation about the long term health implications of following the plan.

Star Wars To Be Released on DVD

The original Star Wars trilogy is being released on DVD at last!

Lucas film has confirmed that Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi will be released in a 4 disc box set from the 21st of September.

It seems the versions released will be the special editions, complete with some extra scenes. Hopefully the originals will be available as well.

New Trains Have Wrong Type Of Hooter

It looks like our old slam door cattle truck trains will be running for even longer now.

The new Electrostar trains, that are unable to run properly because they forgot to upgrade the track power supplies, now need modification because they have the wrong type of hooter.

The new trains have their hooters located under the carriage so the sound blasts out sideways instead of ahead. Residents living by the tracks say their lives are being disrupted by the noise and local councils are threatening to impose noise abatement orders on South Eastern and South Central Trains.

It's just one cockup after another on Britain's privatised railways.

Travelling Cattle Class On South Central

With all the new trains supposedly running now, why are South Central not using some of the better quality coaches that have been freed up to run better trains to Eastbourne?

All we ever get these days seem to be the old, cold, cattle trucks, with a slam door by each block seats. The windows on these trains seem to have a self opening feature that lets in plenty of ice cold wind during the journey. The seating is 3 seats by 2, and was originally designed for metro style service, not long distance. As a result the seats are too narrow to fit people in properly, especially as people seem to be 'larger' these days.

Where have all the good trains gone?