2008 Latest Edition - Did You Know 3.0 - From Meeting in Rome this Year

Um.

Not quite sure what to say about this.
The stats quoted need verification and clarification (as statistics always do).
But just the idea that some of these stats might be true is worth some thought and investigation.

Madonna takes on AIDS

See: http://www.iambecauseweare.com/

Dancing On Ice Final 2009

Dancing On Ice Final 2009 - Ray Quinn & Maria Flippiov - Favourite Dance And Bolero Dance



Full story from the BBC:

BBC News: Dancing On Ice Final 2009 - Ray Quinn & Maria Flippiov - Favourite Dance And Bolero Dance

Poetry in motion - Aimee Mullins re-designs what it means to be "disabled"

Google Maps Street View comes to the UK

Google Maps Street View comes to the UK.

Where I used to live with Dyfrig and Rachel above the chemist and opposite the NatWest on Great Portland Street. 8-) ... Funny old world.

Drag the map for a 360 view of the street.

Click the arrows pointing up and down the street to move around at street level.

View Larger Map

Exercise for the reader... go take a walk around regent's park!




And where I used to live with Vip - just by the bridge that is down the quay in the distance. Where Pierce Brosnan as 007 adjusted his tie while driving a motor boat under water.


View Larger Map

... And while we're about it, where I used to work in San Francisco.


View Larger Map

... And where I used to live with Agnes and Jim


View Larger Map

Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'

Prof Beddington will tell the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference today that a the world is heading for a global crisis by 2030 if action isn't taken now to prevent it. Food and energy and water shortages, rising population predicted to exceed 8 billion and all of it exacerbated in unpredictable ways by global climate destabilisation.

Well nobody say he didn't warn us!

The full story from the BBC is here: Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'

This is the accompanying picture that the BBC is showing along side this story...

I'm not sure how the picture is representative of a "global crisis" but I thought I would include it.

You can read about Prof Beddington's appointment as UK science advisor here: Prof Beddington's appointment as UK science advisor.

He is a member of Imperial College, London University.

Find out more about the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference here and a rival Sustainable Development 09 conference here.

On a related note, The Hunger Project has been working to end (not merely reduce but end) areas of chronic persistent hunger in the world for the last 30 or so years. In contrast to working to alleviate famines when they strike (useful and necessary work, but not work that provides a sustainable long-term solution to the problem of hungry people), there approach has always been oriented to developing long-term sustainable solutions by partnerships of local people and global investors - providing "opportunity" rather that "aid".

A partner organisation "Results" is working to create the political will to end hunger and poverty. Those who take Prof Beddington's warning seriously today, would do well to support the work of Results and The Hunger Project.

Polar bears and dogs playing

The other side of nature from buffalo, lions and crocodiles fighting each other.

This shows footage of polar bears and husky dogs or wolves playing together. Polar bears are sometimes seen to be affection towards husky dogs and wolves and even cuddle them.

Almost as though they think of them a bit like pets.

Lions vs buffalo vs crocodiles - a three-way fight

A three-way fight between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa's Kruger National Park while on safari.

Beginners guide to complaining

My Cousin Vinny/My biological clock is ticking like this...


My Cousin Vinny - "Would you like me to explain"?

The Art and Science of Moving Rocks

Wally Wallington has obviously devoted a lot of his life to the art and science of moving heavy lumps of rock in all dimensions and all situations.

He truly has turned his chosen subject into a work of majestic art... almost a ballet.

Roller coaster greater than vertical drop (UK)

Please no one ever ask me to go on this! 8-)

Full story is here: Roller coaster greater than vertical drop

Still the wrong side of my first billion

Another BBC news item caught my attention today.

See: Bill Gates back on top as the world's richest man



Apparently he has assets of around 40 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile I'm still the wrong side of my first billion - but I'm enjoying the journey! 8-)

Woolworths becomes Wellworths

A news item on BBC web site caught my attention today... see: A Woolworths store which closed when the firm collapsed has been reopened under the name Wellworths.

The personal note here, is that Dorchester referred to in this news item is the town I grew up in, and where I have moved back to live.

Those of you not from the UK may not have caught the passing of the great british retailing institution that is "Woolworths", so the summary version is that a retail store that just couldn't quite get its head around modern retail trends, and then lost its supply of credit as the crunch crunched, collapsed earlier this year and high streets all over the UK lost a bit of their heart.

Now people have all sorts of opinions about "Woolies", but some of us liked buying our toy daleks and astonishing cheap mugs and garden sheers there.

So from where I stand this is a good news story on all fronts: the difference that individuals can make when they simply refuse to take the accept "the inevitable", the courage of local entrepreneurship, resilience in the face of the global financial crisis, people acting locally and on a small scale able to inspire all.

Making cars aerodynamic - why didn't regular car manufactures think of that?!

Hope for the future:

Making cars aerodynamic - why didn't regular car manufacturers think of that!?

If you're like me, you may be wondering who the manufacturer of the white egg-shaped pod-like car shown on BBC's Odd box today is. Well I did some hunting around and found it...

In the light of sharp falls in car production here in the UK and car plants facing the possibility of closure today , but also across the globe as it faces its current financial melt-down, innovative manufacturers are likely to be the ones who do best in the long run, and the car companies who have been kept in the pockets of the oil companies promoting petrol gasoline as the only viable automotive fuel will fall aside as well they deserve to, stifling innovation as they do and have done.

Meanwhile at Aptera.com they have been building fully electric cars (as well as some hybrids I think) and although they initially are only accepting down-payments from people living in California, they plan to make their products available across the USA and the entire globe as soon as they can manage to.

Amazingly the Aptera, which looks a bit like a small star trek shuttle craft, can be charged up by plugging it in to a regular mains socket!

Apparently about half of an average cars energy is used pushing air out of the way at a speed of 55mph. With a low drag coefficient of 0.15, the Aptera 2e realizes less drag than a cycling superstar such as Lance Armstrong on a ten speed bike! You can drive about 100 miles on a single charge without recharging for about $0.50 worth of electricity.

Link to Aptera manufacturer's web site... Make cars aerodynamic - why didn't regular car manufacturers think of that!?


See Aptera test drive on metaefficient.com

Plane-car article

The organisation "Better Place" is mapping a global plan for car charging stations

"Better Place" is looking to build an electric car network using technology available today. Sustainable transportation, global energy independence and freedom from oil.

"Better Place" is just beginning to build its first prototype battery-changing stations in countries like Israel, Denmark and Japan. It hopes to be a critical link in the evolution of the electric-car market.

To go to Shai Agassi's Better Place, click here

New York times article on Shai Agassi and Better Place - you may need to create a free NY Times account to access this link.

Regretting our pass mistakes:

Who killed the electric car, and why did they do it?

Who killed the electric car, latest trailer

Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs new book "Common Wealth"

Not sure if I should really post this... it is a bit relevant to lots of things. Oh well.

Google's 10 to the 100 project

Not that the 10 to the 100 project needs promoting (when there is a link to it on Google's homepage), but Google's 10 to the 100 project seems to me to be a validation of the NotReallyRelevant project. Google's 10 to the 100

Google say:

Never in history have so many people had so much information, so many tools at their disposal, so many ways of making good ideas come to life. Yet at the same time, so many people, from all walks of life, could use so much help, in ways both little and big.

In the midst of this, new studies are reinforcing the simple wisdom that beyond a certain very basic level of material wealth, the only thing that increases individual happiness over time is helping other people.

In other words, helping helps everybody, helper and helped alike.

The question is: what would help? And help most?

At Google, we don't believe we have the answers, but we do believe the answers are out there. Maybe in a lab, or a company or a university - or maybe not.

Maybe the answer that helps somebody is in your head, in something you've observed, some notion that you've been fiddling with, some small connection you've noticed, some old thing you have seen with new eyes.

If you have an idea that you believe would help somebody, we want to hear about it. We're looking for ideas that help as many people as possible, in any way, and we're committing the funding to launch them. You can submit your ideas and help vote on ideas from others. Final idea selections will be made by an advisory board.

Good luck, and may those who help the most win.

CERN Large Hadron Colider LHC Switch On

On Wednesday the large hadron colider LHC at CERN is being switched on for the first time. It is expected to be able to simulate the conditions that were present in the universe shortly after the big bang. It may help provide answers to questions that are fundamental to our understanding of the nature of the universe. This is a 3 minute film about CERN and the LHC. There are documentaries on BBC iPlayer about it too.

3 Minute Introduction to the work of CERN and the LHC large hadron colider

May I introduce Fibby?

May I introduce blogger Fibby. She has three blogger blogs - you'll find the links at the bottom of her profile page. Curious eclectic tastes. 8-)

Set-back for the Big Monarchy campaign

The Big Monarchy campaign has had a set-back in its campaign for an elected UK royal family.

The Big Monarchy campaign attempted to create an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street e-petitions web site.

The first attempt was as follows:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'have the
family occupying the royal palaces and fulfilling the role of
being the british royal family be elected to serve a three year
term via a Big Brother style reality TV show'

(1) The institutions of the UK royal family should be retained
exactly as they are (2) The family that occupies the job of
being royal family (opening fetes and such-like) should be
elected by public vote to serve a three year term (3) The
family chosen to act as the UK's royal family should be
selected on a whole family basis by means of a "Big Brother"
style reality TV show called "Big Monarchy".

We can keep every facet of ancient institution, and turn it
into something that is democratic. The family occupying the
palaces get voted in to serve a three year term. That is why we
are advocating a "Big Monarchy" - that is to say a monarchy
that is drawn from the contribution of all the people of our
country.

The second attempt was similar, but was still rejected:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to: 'have the
family occupying the royal palaces and fulfilling the role of
being the british royal family be elected to serve a three year
term by a public vote'

(1) The institutions of the UK royal family and monarchy should
be retained exactly as they are (2) The family that occupies
the job of being royal family (opening fetes and such-like)
should be elected by public vote to serve a three year term (3)
The family chosen to act as the UK's royal family should be
selected on a whole family basis by means of public vote.

We can keep every facet of our ancient institution and turn it
into something that is democratic. The family occupying the
palaces should be voted in to serve a three year term. We are
advocating a "Big Monarchy"; that is to say a monarchy that is
drawn from the contribution of all the people of our country.

You can read the response from 10 Downing street here:
10 Downing Street response to the Big Monarchy e-petition

Big Monarchy

The NRR campaign for the UK royal family to be elected via a Big Brother style reality TV show, has been upped a gear by means of the "Big Monarchy" Facebook group. See Big Monarchy facebook group.

Here is some of my discussion in which I have tried to encourage people to join the Big Monarchy group.

It for just the reasons that Mark is stating, that I am recommending a retention of all the current institutions of monarchy, but having the people fulfilling the roles of being King, Queen, etcetera, etcetera be elected for a 3 year term via a reality TV show.

We could keep every single facet of that "ancient institution", and turn it into something that is democratic. The family occupying the palaces get voted for to serve a three year term. That is why I am advocating a "Big Monarchy" - that is to say a monarchy that is drawn from the contribution of all the people of our country.

Well it started out with the term being 5 years, and then a discussion amongst the Big Monarchy group members we decided that 3 years would be as much as most families would be able to comfortably cope with.

Although it hasn't been explicitly stated in the Big Monarchy group, I think everyone has been assuming that once a family has been the royal family for a term, they don't get to have another go... so there is no politics or re-election coming in to it.

The idea of the choosing the family via a Big Brother style reality TV show, is that having had your every move scrutinised by the public for the 15 weeks of the elimination competition, and prior to that having gotten your family on to the short list in the first place, the chosen family is as good a choice as any that we are likely to get to represent us at fetes and opening hospitals, and all the other things they do.

Ok, fair dues. It is a bit absurd. But less so than the current situation, I think. Also very future, very now, very forward. ;-) I think its got to be a step in the right direction.

Like when the berlin wall came down, before it happened no one would have predicted. Now its "well of course", and we all take it for granted.

Anyway, as a proud englishman, I would prefer to be known around the world as the country that made people laugh, than as the country who dropped bombs on their children, stole their natural resources, cast their people into slavery, subjected them to ridiculous religions, is wonderfully good at thinking up games that it's people have no natural ability at, who can't loose a sports fixture without having a tantrum, and who can't have a drink in the evening without having to behave like five-year olds.

Now if there's anyone left in UK that I didn't just offend, are you with me!

Alice - A Journey - a new auto-biographical narative by Chrissy Merton

You can buy Chrissy Merton's new book, Alice - A Journey, from the following site (click link below), £3.50 cheaper than from Amazon!

Alice - A Journey - a new auto-biographical account by Chrissy Merton based on a true story

Chrissy speaks about her experiences and the process of writing the book on video. Click the link below:

Video Interviews with the author.

Wikipedia

More exploration of the delights of wikipedia.

wikipedia

wicked wicked problems

Yesterday the 2 sides of "the project" (the 2 sides being "NotReallyRelevant" and "EcstaticUnion" were brought together rather wonderfully for me by being introduced by a potential software development client to the concept of "Wicked Problems".

The following is reproduced from the Innovation Works web site.

• You don't (fully?) understand the problem until you've developed a solution


• There is no stopping rule (there's always a better solution if you have unlimited resources)


• There is no right or wrong answer


• Wicked problems are unique and novel (they may appear the same but small changes make everything different, like every project)


• Solutions to wicked problems are one-shot; the solution redefines the problem


• There are no given alternatives; solution A does not automatically define the alternative solution B.

Questions Only Blog

As google, wikipedia etc. seem to have real downer about my "Questions Only blog", I thought I would mention it here... Also known as the "Is this a blog" blog, you can get to it by clicking the link above or via Wikipedia (click the little [1] in square brackets on this Wikipedia page Questions Only discussion on WikiPedia). Cheers.

Self belief

Thought for the day:
Self belief in the wrong hands is a very dangerous thing.

Heather Cairncross is on MySpace!

Here's some exciting news! The serene vision of loveliness that is Heather Cairncross, whose voice has been interenationally celebrated and used on sound tracks of hollywood blockbusters like lord of the rings, now has a page on MySpace. Last time I checked there were at least 4 of her mellow recordings to listen to there - silky smooth. To me, Heather is like the Madonna of Jazz and Classical singers, packing enough sex appeal to make strong men drool. Certainly I have personally drooled.

Looking on the bright side

Looking on the bright side, the world has an increasing army of heroic people who want to make it a better place, and only a finite number of problems. In fact in some areas groups of people trying to solve a particular problem are very much in competition with each other, to see who can save the world first. Before very long I predict that global problems will start to seem like a scare resource, and groups of rival do-gooders will find themselves in conflict with each other. Instead of fighting over middle-east oil wealth, we will instead be fighting over who gets to save the planet, and international emissaries will have to be sent in to stop greenpeace suicide bombers blowing themselves up in crowds of oxfam volunteers.

Possibility of an Elected Royal Family For the UK

Here's an idea, not a very good one I'll grant you - or well you can decide for yourself - but it appeals to me so I thought I'd throw it out there.

There has been much discussion of the last 15 years about the continuation of monarchy in the UK. On the one side we have the monarchists who say that the historic significance of the monarchy is too good a thing to lose. In rather the same way as we preserve our old country houses in an attempt to preserve our historic record and heritage, these people argue that we should keep our monarchy as part of Brand UK, its boost to tourism, its role as ambassadors for our national interests, and its provision of figureheads who stand for the embodiment of our national pride.

Against them stand the new republicans who don't like things like our national anthem being so queen centric. Why when we give three cheers for ourselves do we even need to mention her? Do we really want to hold, even in a figurative role, an institution which is the embodiment of anti-democratic ideas - an institution that drags along with it endless structures of power which favour the status quo and endorse the rights of rich and powerful people to use their wealth and power for the soul purpose of staying that way - ensuring that they and their friends and family keep hold of as much wealth and power as possible.

A possibility that I have never heard being entered into this 2-sided debate is a MIDDLE WAY. A third possibility that stands between the absolute fall of the monarchy, and the absolute continuation of it... namely an ELECTED ROYAL FAMILY. The suggestion is that we should keep all the current institutions of monarchy, all the existing property and land, all the existing jobs like opening fetes and hospitals, and international tours and so on, but have the people filling each of these roles be elected. This surely has the capacity to satisfy both sides of the argument. We keep all the institutions of monarchy, but have the people filling the roles be electable and accountable to the voting public.

One possible way to vote in the people to fill each of the jobs would be to do it on a family-wide basis. It could be done on a job by job basis, but I think there would be something good about voting for a whole family to take up the whole set of roles. The family could then serve a term of say 5 years, and then another family could be voted in to replace them. During their time as the Royal Family, each of these voted for families would take up residence in the various palaces, have use of the crown jewels, and be assigned with the various jobs like opening parliament that the current royal family do.

One possible way of choosing which family should be voted in would be a Big Brother style scrutiny of the families who are standing for election... I'm sure the nation would enjoy following that for 10 or 15 weeks... mega buck television for a broadcasting company that wants to get behind the project...

Don't forget, you heard it here FIRST... NotReallyRelevant

A question of what is really relevant?

I was prompted by my friend, Carl, to explore the merits of Wikipedia - which is of course wonderful and terrible - the very antithesis of the Not Really Relevant ehtos. However. Fight fire with fire? Infiltrate? Transform from the inside out? Lets see what we can do... ;-) ... Here is my user page: Not really relevant on Wikipedia

Positive Discrimination for the Socially Inept

Sometimes it seems to me, with all the various new disability legislation (and all power to it), that there ought to be positive discrimination for people who are socially inept. I mean I look around for a category of disability that covers me, and I think there ought to be one. People have all kinds of disabilities, and if society is going to go about re-dressing the balance regarding the lucky or unlucky, why stop at obvious physical disability. Some of us have just been born with a foot in our mouths, and didn't we ought to get some extra help with that? In many ways it is just as disabling as these other things.

This week David Cameron has been talking about giving tax breaks to married couples. How about some tax breaks for balding lonely losers? I'm not claiming to be grotesquely ugly, but I've been dull enough looking to make certain aspects of my life considerably harder work than they would have otherwise been. Perhaps some sort of sliding scale could be made, whereby the uglier you are, the more benefit you get.

I mean all joking apart, if society does consider it right to rebalance our various personal inequities, being so obnoxious that people at cocktail parties turn and run when they see me coming - doesn't that count for something?

I'm not saying I necessarily want a parking space outside the door at tescos, but how about some help paying people to pretend to be my friends?

Lynne's Site gets a new look

Lynne Hazelden's project, "PEACE in OUR lifetime" is here: Peace in our lifetime

Lynne Hazelden's site has just had a bit of a design tweak done to it. You can read Lynne's vision of a possible future for communication.

Dorchester Nursery / Preschool

Last week I was helping my sister with search engine optimisation. She has created a really cute site for the Dorchester Preschool where she works, with information about prechool term dates and all sorts of other useful stuff for pre-school parents with young children in Dorchester.

Third day

Third day
Originally uploaded by notreallyrelevant.

The various strands of my life are bound together by chocolate pudding... ;-)

My small ads online dating

My latest money making scheme... online dating. Would you like to go out with me? I had this idea that rather than paying online dating services like "Match.com" $10 a month for their kind generosity of letting me post my dating profile on their web site, bolster their brand and their traffic, and on top of that giving them my cash... THEY COULD PAY ME... My small ads online dating.

PDA camera wrapper opennetcf

Can I link the web cam on my 3G PDA so I can respond to people visiting my web sites... May this will help... Camera program wrapper technologies in opennetcf

Whatford Wazzangers and Search Engine Optimisation

Whatford Wazzanger? I hear you ask ?

I've never heard of a "Whatford Wazzanger".

What an earth is a "Whatford Wazzanger"?

Well, I'm just having a bit of fun with my old friends at Joshordan software. If you visit their site here: Joshordan Software you will understand... at least a little, what a "Whatford Wazzanger" is. At least you might do, as long as they don't change their site.

NRR puts it's first ad for interviews on Craigslist

Title says it all really, but I am excited about it...
See the really thing at I want to interview you

Enter your search termsSubmit search form

Festive spirit at bindon.net

Festive spirit at bindon.net ... yeah, well.
Its funny if you have the right sense of humour.




UK Microsoft consultancy

Laura has a new site with integrated video

I made Laura a new site with 20 minutes of integrated video.

Check it out at London UK's Holistic Life Coaching

Enter your search termsSubmit search form

Lynne Hazelden now has an entry on ImDB

Lynne Hazelden, who I am a big fan of, now has an listing on ImDB. See here... Lynne Hazelden on imdb.

Enter your search termsSubmit search form

Thing's favourite IKEA furniture

Thing's favourite IKEA furniture.


Thing's favourite IKEA furniture

Enter your search termsSubmit search form

Video web sites

Lately I have been creating some sample video web sites. You can check them out at the following link ... this page will redirect you to where ever I have moved them too: Video Web Sites

If you'd like me to make you a site like any of these, including recording and editing the original video content in multi-camera shoots, you can get in touch in any of the usual ways. For instance cell-phone number is: 07957 Twenty, Thirty-Five, Twelve.

e e cummings - We love each other very dearly

e e cummings - We love each other very dearly

Enter your search termsSubmit search form

"You see, I want a lot..." - Rainer Maria Rilke

"You see, I want a lot..." - Rainer Maria Rilke

A poetry video web site

I bet after my 17th of May posting, some of you have been wondering if I am alright. And some of you haven't.

A poetry video web site: A poetry video web-site

Hello

Hello, again.

www.NotReallyRelevant.com