FaceBook

Ok, ok, blogging has taken a hiatus recently due to being too busy with work and other activities, but that hasn’t stopped me joining facebook, the latest friend/network website. It’s slightly addictive. For better or worse, I can’t access it at work.

Occupied by other interests

It’s been ages since I wrote my last post - other interests have crowded out my blogging time. It’s been interesting not blogging much - I’m enjoying other activities.

I am now at my workplace Mon-Thur each week - Friday is my day for doing scientific/mathematical or other activities - who knows what I may do? I might end up running my own business! I think that many people would like to work without being an employee. I understand its attraction to people who are employees.

Feel free to leave any business proposals in comments.

Pop culture “Next Top” shows

Some shows on the box just demand your attention - I’m addicted to The Apprentice and always try to catch Project Runway, the Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency, Tyra Banks’ American Next Top Model and at the moment I’m enjoying Australia’s Next Top Model (ANTM), a low-cost Australian version of Tyra’s original.

A great aspect of these shows are the wrap-ups that some bloggers do of them - some of the funniest are about ANTM on the Bland Canyon blog, which I’ve added to my blog roll.

In the immortal words of one ANTM contestant, “Game on, moll!”

Web-based floating desktops

Web-based e-mail is very familiar to many computer users, and I’ve read that web-based applications are gaining in popularity. I wonder if many people have looked at creating web-based desktops? By a web-based desktop I mean a (password-protected) desktop that’s accessible from any computer connected to the internet. The desktop would “float” on the net rather than being located on one particular computer/network. With floating desktops, a stolen laptop needn’t mean that one’s information and work disappears. To alleviate the problems of material disappearing when computers are stolen, maybe one could have an (unhackable!) private website to which one uploads relevant materials at the end of each day.

Of course, there may be security issues with floating desktops as there are with all web-based e-mail programs.

What I’ve been up to recently; Australia and nuclear power

It’s been a while since my last post - I’ve been very busy with work, socially and with some personal projects I’m working on - I feel like I’ve had very little free time! I’ve restarted editing my little paper from last year to get it ready to send to a journal, probably the Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications (I always thought that the title of this journal sounded funny), and it shouldn’t be a long time before I submit it.

Recently I’ve been thinking that nuclear power is not being properly considered in the Australian political arena. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for a reflexive reaction against even the possibility of using nuclear power and it doesn’t appear to be based on a careful analysis of all the facts. When people automatically reject nuclear power it is often accompanied by misunderstandings, at least to my ears.

Some interesting points, and these are not based on my own detailed studies but on some reading, are:
(1) many fewer people died per unit of energy as a result of generating electricity from nuclear fission (of uranium) per unit of energy than from coal, natural gas or hydroelectric power in the period 1970-1992 (source: p. 102, The Revenge of Gaia, J. Lovelock). Note that this includes the Chernobyl disaster, from which about 75 people died.
(2) it is often pointed out that the waste products of the natural nuclear “reactors” in Africa a couple of million years ago were well contained - it is not an unsolvable problem.
(3) there have been very few accidents at nuclear power plants in most countries.

I would like Australian political figures to properly consider nuclear power in the list of potential energy sources.

Adding Darlene Taylor’s blog to my blogroll

I’ve just added Darlene Taylor’s blog to my blogroll. Darlene appeared in the blog world a few months ago and likes watching Australian Princess, so she’s a good addition to my blogroll.

Update: Darlene has a celebrity news “column” - you have to read it!

On media and blog coverage of the Iraq war

Just a short comment - it seems to me that quite a bit of media coverage (eg at CNN and the SMH)  and blog discussion (eg at Larvatus Prodeo) about the Iraq war and the recent policy to “surge” the number of troops is about whether the US population and politicians support the policy, not about ways in which the situation in Iraq can be improved. Of course, many media reports are more “standard” (eg this BBC story), but I’m surprised at what seems to me to be misplaced energy.

I’d like to see more discussion about how the situation in Iraq can be improved.

John likes 400 but not 300; he likes 100

In March last year I wrote this post on a question that irked me on the IQ Tickle test and on IQ tests in general, and since then, my blog has been visited by many people searching for phrases such as ”John likes 400 but not 300; he likes 100″ (it’s the question that irked me on the Tickle IQ test, possibly copied straight from the test to a browser).

I’m sure it’s by far the most popular post on my blog: up to yesterday there had been 4,954 views of it according to the WordPress stats. Cheaters!

Well, just for fun, I thought I’d write another post with that phrase in the title and see how many people view it. Let’s see!

I’m ranked 318 455!

Inspired by Andrew Norton, I’ve connected this blog on the Technorati site, and am ranked 318 455. Perhaps the ranking is made by counting the number of links from other blogs.

Comments policy

I’m all for a laissez faire approach to comments, but I’ve changed my mind about abusive ones. From now on I won’t tolerate any abusive comments.