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Farewell to the Space Shuttle

I agree with Julien - it's a crying shame to see the Space Shuttle finished. There's a lot of people bemoaning lack of progress elsewhere too, for example at http://abstrusegoose.com/377.

23:00 :: # :: /misc :: 0 comments

Silly Cars!

Jo bought me a voucher last Christmas to spend some time on a race track, driving an Aston Martin and a Lamborghini. Finally we got around to using it last week. Jo is just as much a petrol-head as me, so I surprised her by buying the same experience voucher for her - call it a wedding present. Good call - she didn't stop grinning all day, even on the long drive home!

The Aston Martin was a DB9 Volante (i.e. the convertible). Lovely car, but a little softer than I'd expected (maybe due to it being the convertible). I preferred the Lamborghini Gallardo, pictured here in a nice subtle colour. *grin*

The nice folks doing the official photos at the track also took some extra photos of us sitting in another supercar - an Audi R8 V10 convertible. We've got those photos coming on CD in the post, and I'll post one when they land.

23:59 :: # :: /misc/cars :: 1 comment

Bias in the news

Apologies for yet more politics; normal-ish service will be resumed shortly, I hope.

I've just put the following into the "BBC News website feedback" form, but I doubt it will have any impact. Quoting it here for the record...

The BBC news website appears to be showing a systemic bias over the AV referendum. For the last few weeks, there has been regular coverage of the referendum and it seems that there has been the usual blind adherence to "balance" - every story about AV has included some of the (incorrect, unscientific, even hate-filled) propaganda from the "no to AV" campaign without critique or analysis. It's difficult to see any justification for this except deliberate editorial bias, but I don't imagine that there's much that can be done about that.

However, right now on the BBC News front page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ I can see that there is a link "Referendum views" that points to yet another opinion piece from a "No" campaigner (Frederick Forsyth). I only see a single view here, not the plural "views" suggested. I don't see any positive view for AV promoted from the front page at all, nor any link from this puff piece to the other articles that have been written in the recent past. Looking further, I can see that there *has*, in fact, been a positive piece on the News Front Page today (from Billy Bragg) but there are no visible links to it any more. Both articles were posted/updated at the same time this morning (22nd April, 08:34 BST) yet now only the negative one remains. Very shoddy, and not at all what I would expect from the BBC.

23:24 :: # :: /misc/politics :: 11 comments

Lies, damn lies and voting system lies

So we're just over 2 weeks away from our next set of local elections in the UK (May 5th), and alongside those elections we're also being asked about switching to a new voting system for future elections. For a long time we've used the simple First Past The Post (FPTP) system here, but now we have the possbility of moving to Alternative Vote (AV) instead.

First Past The Post

FPTP is simple to understand - the person who receives more votes than any single other person wins. But that simplicity is the only good thing, and there are many problems with it. It's unfair: in an election with 10 candidate, it's possible for a winner to have just 11% of the vote, even in the case where the other 89% of voters would consider them to be the worst option. It's also very susceptible to tactical voting, leading to nasty tactics in parties' election literature like claiming "party foo cannot win here, so don't waste your vote on them - vote for us instead!". See this Wikipedia article for more background.

Alternative Vote

AV is slightly more complicated. Instead of just placing a mark against their single preferred candidate, voters are able to rank as many of the candidates as they like. In the case that there is not a clear winner with more than 50% of the votes from the initial count, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and second-choice votes from their supporters are counted and re-distributed for the other candidates. Iterate this process until one candidate gets more than 50% of the total votes. By re-calculating the votes this way, supporters of less popular candidates / parties should no longer feel the pressure to vote tactically and a more accurate picture of voter intention should emerge. The downsides? AV will tend to lead to slower, more expensive counting due to the potential for several rounds. It's still not real proportional voting, but it's better than FPTP in this regard. Again, Wikipedia has a good article about this subject.

Other options?

I'd be much happier to see discussion / trials of other voting systems. For example, Debian uses a variation on Condorcet called Cloneproof Schwartz Sequential Dropping which is an excellent system for fair voting, but it's very difficult to explain and counting votes is comparatively very expensive. It's bad enough getting ostensibly-intelligent Debian developers to understand this system; extending this to a national election would be impossible in my opinion. It's also not an option on the ballot here... :-)

Politicians spreading lies

I know this won't come as a major shock for a nationwide referendum, but there's a lot of campaigning going on. And, in the best traditions of political campaigning, there's a huge amount of bullshit being spread. The worst is coming from the "No to AV" campaign, as far as I can see. Without many positive things to claim, various members of the Conservative party (current government, with most to fear from a change of voting system, of course) are spouting outright lies and sowing FUD in all directions:

1. Claiming that AV will cost £250 million, most of which would be for the cost of electronic voting machines. Except... there's no evidence that these would be needed, nor are there any plans to use them.
2. Continuing on, highlighting the alleged "extra costs" of AV: campaign poster FUD saying that we need to choose between cardiac facilities for babies and AV, or between equipment for our soldiers and AV. Except... there's no evidence that costs will be that high, nor that we have to make such binary choices.
3. Claims from senior Conservative figures that changing to AV would mean more votes and legitimacy for extremists like the British National Party. Except... there is no evidence that AV will boost minority extremist parties. The BNP themselves are urging their supporters to vote against AV. Finally, if these parties have a high enough proportion of votes that they should be getting seats in parliament then they should have those seats - this is one of the tenets of democracy. Why should we be choosing a voting system to deliberately disenfranchise people?
4. Finally, even David Cameron is at it: "too much of the debate about the alternative vote (AV) had so far been dominated by 'scientific' evaluation of the two systems' merits. But for me, politics shouldn't be some mind-bending exercise. It's about what you feel in your gut - about the values you hold dear and the beliefs you instinctively have. And I just feel it, in my gut, that AV is wrong." Well, it's nice that our Prime Minister wants to ignore all the scientific evidence and go with his gut feeling. After all, why would we want to think about choices like this?

Don't swallow the bullshit

If you're eligible to vote in the UK, please ignore the bollocks. Make up your own mind how to vote in this referendum, by looking at the facts. I've done that and I'll be voting in favour of switching to AV.

13:03 :: # :: /misc/politics :: 7 comments

He's gone

I mentioned last night that Dad was on his way out, and that we were all hoping it would end soon for him. Well, thankfully it did. He was clearly waiting for my stepmum to come back in to see him this morning; he left us at 11:35 today, at peace and in no pain.

Thanks to everybody for your messages of support, they're very appreciated. It's hard to lose somebody close, and it helps to know that your friends are thinking of you.

13:41 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

Dad ill again

A few years ago, I mentioned my dad's fight with cancer. He survived that, and has carried on for several more years since. He had a replacement hip fitted last year to improve his mobility, and was looking set to enjoy a good long retirement. Until... Just before Christmas symptoms suggested that the cancer had returned, and with a vengeance. Tests confirmed it.

We were hoping that Dad would fight on and win through again this time, and I was looking forwards to him being at my wedding this September. But there have been a lot of unexpected complications this time and it's just not going to happen. I spoke to him last on Tuesday this week, but he was delirious at the time. He hasn't really been conscious in any meaningful way since.

I'm composing this message in the hospital in Southport where I'm now waiting for my dad to die. We've been told by his doctors that it's not going to be long now, but they said that on Wednesday too. My dad has always been stubborn, always a fighter; we know that this is a fight he can't win, but that isn't stopping him from trying his hardest. At least he's being kept comfortable for his last few days, with plenty of strong painkillers on hand when needed. Please let it end soon.

19:19 :: # :: /misc :: 10 comments

YA spam vector?

Just had an email from twitter.com telling me that my new account was ready for use. Looks like some spammers are trying to abuse people that way too. Simon said he'd got one too.

Sigh.

21:21 :: # :: /misc :: 3 comments

Frans Pop

My good friend Frans Pop died on the 20th of August, just over a week ago. We had worked together for several years within Debian (especially within the Debian CD team), and we had become firm friends during that time. He was great to work with, always ready to help design new features or pick holes and find the bugs in the stuff I was developing myself, happy for others to dig into his own projects. On the more personal side, we met up many times at different Free Software events like DebConf and FOSDEM, and also for pure social things like BBQs and parties. We shared a lot of good times.

Last week, along with some other Debian people who had worked with Frans, I headed over to the Netherlands for his funeral. His family also asked me to talk about him, and I was honoured to do so. I spoke briefly about Frans' work in Debian, highlighting the areas where he worked and the number of people he had worked with in various teams. I also told the group about the massive number of messages of sympathy and condolence which I had been asked to pass on from all over the world. His family knew that Debian was important to Frans, but were not aware of just how wide his influence and effect had been. They were especially surprised and grateful that people had travelled so far for the funeral; I told them that I would not have missed it for anything.

Rest In Peace, my friend. You will be missed.

15:00 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

Bad news

Mum's been to the hospital today for some test results and apparently they've found some cancer. This is a bit of a shock for all of us, as you might imagine. The doctors now need to do some more tests to help find out what they can do. We're waiting with fingers crossed now...

17:15 :: # :: /misc :: 4 comments

Leaving Amino, on to ARM

Number 2: Although most of the details were finalised a while ago, I haven't blogged about this yet. I've been working at Amino for over four years, developing software for a range of Linux-based set-top boxes. It's been a good place to work for most of that time, but recently I've decided that it's time to find new employment.

At the end of March, I'll be joining ARM as a Staff Software Engineer, working on Linux and other Open Source / Free Software with them. The job looks awesome, just about exactly what I've been looking for. And I'll be joining two more Debian folk who are working there already. Woo! :-)

11:04 :: # :: /misc :: 3 comments

It's been a while

Apologies for not posting in a while. I've been a little busy of late, but I promise to fill in some of the details in the next few days.

Number 1: Jo and I are engaged. We went to a nice restaurant on Saturday for her birthday. I totally surprised her by asking the question in her birthday card: "P.S. Will you marry me" at the bottom. The look on her face as she said "yes" was awesome. *grin*

I had already surprised her a couple of weekends back by taking her to Paris for Valentine's weekend. She didn't know we were going until we got to the checkin desk for the Eurotunnel.

Now I've got a problem, though: what do I do for a surprise two weekends from now? :-)

10:56 :: # :: /misc :: 1 comment

Helsinki in the autumn

I arranged a weekend trip for me and Jo at short notice when other plans for the weekend didn't happen. And I'm glad I did, we both had an excellent time! :-)

We met up with Lars and Soile for dinner at their place on Saturday when we arrived, and they were great hosts. We hit the sauna then went back to our hotel, tired from the travel but happy.

I had promised Jo that we would find some reindeer for her, so on Sunday we went overboard. First of all, a trip to the natural history museum in the middle of Helsinki where we got to see models of reindeer and reindeer skeletons (amongst other things!)...

Then we went to the Zetor Tractor Bar for lunch, including (of course!) reindeer to eat. Then on to the zoo to see various animals including big cats and ... reindeer! *grin*

We headed back to the centre of Helsinki and met up with a bunch of the locals for drinks and some dinner. It was excellent to meet up with these folks; I'd not met some of them in a couple of years!

Finally, last thing that night, I surprised Jo with a trip to the Ice Bar in the middle of the city. She had no idea where we were going, and when we got there the look on her face was wonderful!

We both loved the trip, and we'll have to go back again soon.

01:08 :: # :: /misc :: 0 comments

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2009

I went down to Goodwood House again this year for the Festival of Speed, and it was excellent fun. I spent the day with a bunch of friends looking at and listening to a massive range of silly cars. We got to see Formula 1 drivers showing off for the crowd on the hillclimb, rally drivers reliving their best on the specially-made rally stage in the forest and historic sports cars being driven the way they were intended: FAST. *grin*

And, to cap it all, Jo came with us too for the first time and she loved it too. Yay!

23:45 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

Keep libel laws out of science

The "Sense about Science" group have written about a ridiculous lawsuit currently happening in the UK. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel, based on an article he wrote in the Guardian newspaper in 2008. There is a campaign to express support for Simon and call for an urgent review of English law of libel, and I have signed the petition myself. The right place for scientific debate is out in the open, not shut down by cowards who refuse to show evidence for their claims and instead pay for lawsuits.

16:05 :: # :: /misc :: 0 comments

age++

On Thursday it was my birthday, and I fulfilled a promise I made to myself many years ago. I've always been a car nut, and when I was about 6 years old and had posters of Lamborghinis on my bedroom walls I promised myself that by the time I reached 35 I would have one. That would be long enough in the future that it might happen, but I'd still be young enough to still be able to appreciate it. Well, as it got to the beginning of this year I realised I was running out of time and my bank balance didn't quite look large enough to buy a Lamborghini. So, I cheated a little and I hired one for the day on Thursday.

More pictures here.

I had one car booked a few weeks ago, but unfortunately the company involved had to let me down as the car developed problems a couple of days before I was due to have it and needed to go away for repairs. I'm not going to complain too much about them, as it wasn't their fault and they did their level best to make things right: offering a different car, a refund or a later replacement hire. But dammit! I wanted the Lamborghini and I wanted it on my birthday! I quickly rang around on Wednesday to find somebody else, and thankfully the folks at Signature Car Hire were very helpful, sorting out a car with just a few hours' notice. Yay!

When they guys turned up on Thursday morning to deliver the car to my office, I couldn't stop myself grinning like the 6-year old boy whose promise I was keeping. Here was a gorgeous car, and it was mine for the day!!! I planned a route for the day to take in some nice driving roads and, importantly, some tunnels. I've watched Top Gear on the TV and I read Autocar every week, and they had both said that taking a fast sports car through a tunnel with the roof down was a good thing to do. I now know that's an understatement!

As a whole, the car was awesome: the acceleration, the handling, the brakes were all wonderful. But, as I found out on that day, the noise from the engine was just astonishing. I went through several tunnels that day, heading down past Baldock to Hatfield and back, and at full throttle I could not help but laugh out loud at the music coming from the 5-litre V10 orchestra just inches behind me. It's an experience I'm never going to forget. grin.

I also gave short rides to quite a few of the people at work; oddly I had lots of friends that day... :-)

I'd also planned other things for the day. I bought myself a new camera in advance to make sure I got some nice photos of the day. Then at the end of the day I went out to the pub with a huge group of friends and I was forced to drink lots of beer. It was horrible, horrible I tell you.

12:26 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

You are not alone

Shockingly, I seem to have found a woman crazy enough to like me! This delusion looks like it might be long-term; let's see how it goes... :-)

03:29 :: # :: /misc :: 1 comment

The Model M is not dead!

It seems that the good folks at Unicomp are still making proper buckling-spring keyboards, now even with a USB connector. Phew! I was worried that I'd be forced to move away from my nice clicky Model M at some point soon, as PCs are slowly losing PS/2 ports.

20:02 :: # :: /misc :: 2 comments

Debunking World Myths?

More than just your average Powerpoint dross - an interesting way of looking at statistics by Hans Rosling (Warning: requires Flash)

14:02 :: # :: /misc :: 1 comment

Happy Birthday ORG!

Wow, time flies when you're not paying much attention. It seems that the Open Rights Group is two years old. I was one of the original thousand people who pledged to support ORG financially (a fiver per month), hoping that they would help us stand up for our digital rights in the UK in much the same way as the EFF do in the US. The group have done a good job so far, facing off against the big corporates and the government on key subjects like DRM, electronic voting, ID cards and data protection.

Unfortunately, it seems that there are more and more of these fights coming and they are gaining in importance as more and more of our lives are lived online. ORG are always looking for more support; please help if you can.

20:47 :: # :: /misc :: 0 comments

Morons and spam

It's bad enough that we have anti-social fuckwits spamming the world. It's made even worse by morons using broken-by-design challenge-response software like Active Spam Killer to push back-scatter on to the rest of us. I'm depressed that people can be so ignorant, but not exactly surprised. I just got another challenge in my inbox today. *sigh*

01:59 :: # :: /misc :: 1 comment