Fig. A. Paul Simons, The Times weatherman:

“If the Gulf Stream slows down/diverts, we're in big trouble. Thoughts are that it hasn't changed yet, and it will take a lot more meltwater from the Arctic to change it - but we need a lot more information about what's going on with the Gulf Stream.”

Fig. B. that now-famous picture of ice-bound Britain:

Fig. C. the Gulf Stream on December 30^th:

The left side is the US east cost, Africa is bottom right and we're in the top-right - land mass is grey. The red bit is the gulf stream.

Update: a little bit of fantasy from the Grauniad last November, about what disaster might strike in the unlikely event the gulf stream was disrupted, and how quickly it might affect our weather.

Sen John McCain, a Republican who lost to Mr Obama in the 2008 presidential race, stated that military tribunals were the best venue for terror suspects.

"They are war criminals, who committed acts of war against our citizens and those of dozens of other nations," he said.

- from BBC News

...and...

“The terrorists who planned, participated in, and aided the September 11, 2001, attacks are war criminals, not common criminals. ... They are also not American citizens entitled to all the constitutional rights American citizens have in our federal courts,” Lieberman’s statement said.

- from New Haven Register

(syracusah - I got that right, Lieberman is a right-wing Republican, yeah?)

Except that, of course, these guys weren't treated as war criminals right from the point Bush got his hands on them:

In the United States the use of the phrase "enemy combatant" may also mean an alleged member of al Qaeda or the Taliban being held in detention by the U.S. government as part of the war on terror. In this sense, "enemy combatant" actually refers to persons the United States regards as unlawful combatants, a category of persons who do not qualify for prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions. Thus, the term "enemy combatant" has to be read in context to determine whether it means any combatant belonging to an enemy state, whether lawful or unlawful, or if it means an alleged member of al Qaeda or of the Taliban being detained as an unlawful combatant by the United States.

- from Wikipedia

These guys have their own special rights-free status which meant they didn't have access to lawyers, they didn't have PoW status under the Geneva Conventions, they had nothing except a routine of torture.

Of course, people are now worried that some of these people are going to get off scott-free because essentially the Bush Govt. has screwed the pooch on this one: any evidence they collected via means of torture ought not to be admissable, and these detainees are now so radicalised that they'd fess up to practically anything to become a martyr to the cause.

Almost certainly some, if not all, of these charged are guilty of something approximating the charges brought against them, and probably all will be found guilty. But good grief, to hear these politicians pontificating about justice is very hard to take after all the people who've been locked up in Gitmo and freed without any charge whatsoever.

I thought it apropos to add my voice to the disgust over Jan Moir's "article" about Stephen Gately's death. Amongst other gems:

• "Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one" - because, y'know, if something is rare then it's not natural (whoever heard of a "panda"?). He died young, therefore he died of drugs and/or homosexual acts.
• "we would have to admit that the circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy" - after all, he went fucking clubbing.
• "A post-mortem revealed Stephen died from acute pulmonary oedema, a build-up of fluid on his lungs. [..] Nevertheless, his mother is still insisting that her son died from a previously undetected heart condition" - Jan Moir is clearly an expert doctor, and knows something that no-one else does (that oedemas are, contrary to popular medical knowledge, not often associated with heart conditions).
• "Yet the recent death of Kevin McGee [..] and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise troubling questions about what happened." - McGee, a seriously depressed man, took his own life. What that has to do with a heart condition killing Gately after a night on the town - who knows? But what we do know is that they were both poofs. QED.

I would rail against the poor journalism of Moir, except that this is basically standard fayre for the Mail and (particularly) Mail Online. This is the standard of their "news". Fuckers.

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I am feeling:

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annoyed

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As part of his manifesto, current London Mayor "Beano" Boris Johnson demanded the removal of our bendy-buses from the roads and the return of a Routemaster-like design. The Routemaster, with its hop-on hop-off rear platform, is entirely inaccessible to people with mobility issues, so clearly a new design was actually needed to make this a reality.

First, I have to say, I don't particularly like this type of thinking. Beano Boris clearly had a run-in with a bendy bus or something, or is just wistful for the past, but claims that they are "more dangerous" were shown to be debateable at best, and meanwhile the tax payer is having to fork out again, one way or another, to replace some of the most modern buses on the network because the Mayor doesn't like the design. Routemasters went the way of the dodo for very good reasons: completely inaccessible to wheelchair users, uncomfortable for everyone else, and they require two staff on every bus - conductors were a great idea in 50s to keep buses moving; now we have Oyster. Pointless.

But anyway, on to the competition itself - the winners were announced yesterday. What a disappointment, really: we have some extremely innovative designers in this country, but the winning entries are little better than something I could have come up with, frankly.

Take a look at this joint-winner, designed by renowned British company Aston-Martin and notorious(?!) design firm Foster + Partners. I don't like the Fisher-Price look of it, and I don't see much in the way of innovation at all. It's supposed to be highly manoeuvrable and is zero-emissions. Presumably they have ideas for how, but it doesn't seem to appear in the design. They do have solar panels on the roof, though, to catch all of that British sunshine (yeah, right). Bizarrely, it doesn't seem to accommodate wheelchair users.

Here is the other joint winner, submitted by Capoco. Because Capoco aren't Aston-Martin, the press has said even less about this design than the other, but they do have a project website available. Again, the look of the thing is absolutely nothing special - it smells, walks and talks like a Routemaster. Job done on that score, I guess, although it comes with a side-ramp for wheelchair users. Special features appear to be that it's quite light for a bus, and is hydrogen powered. Somehow I wouldn't be surprised if the hydrogen electric drive chain became traditional diesel by the time it hits the road.

So what did we miss out on? There are other designs on the winners page which look interesting, but some of the best designs don't even seem to have made it to the finishing line. Take a look at this, my favourite:

This is the bus design that was submitted by On Route. As you can see just by looking at it, this looks a lot squarer and a lot more modern than the other designs. It has a really wide and accessible rear ramp, so more people can get on/off at a time, and it's big and square to fit more people in more comfortable. But what is really great is what else it does - the clue is in the name, they called it "Freight*BUS". As well as being able to carry passengers, it can also carry Euro-pallets: so at night time, or other low passenger periods, this bus can be used to carry good around the city. As well as taking cars off the road, it can take vans and trucks off as well!

I don't know if that kind of system could actually work in practice, I don't know how practical it is. But it's that kind of radical thinking that will help improve our transport system and turn it into something to be really proud of. And it's the kind of design that our country is known for. But because the competition is blinkered into producing the most minimal re-work of the Routemaster that they can possibly get away with, these ideas don't seem to be in with a chance. Such a shame.

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chipper

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The latest news from faith science:

“Two areas in a woman’s brain are activated when she talks,” al-Zindani explained. “As we can see, there are many centers of speech in a woman’s brain. [..] The opposite center does not operate during speech, because it is busy remembering.”

“[..] So when a woman talks, she might use the part of the brain containing the memory for talking - and that’s it, the data is lost.”

• 2009 is going to be a year to beat the crap out of your debts. It's looking like lending is going to be cheap, and sustainably cheap, for a while yet. Don't let falling interest rates reduce your payments: unless you're smart with those savings, you'll lose out. Pay over where possible, or move debt to places where you can do that.


• Apropos to the last item, if you're not in property already, get into the market. Prices have fallen reasonably hard, and as lending cheapens the market will open up. This is a five-year investment minimum, but over that time I expect a ~20% increase in prices from the bottom: negotiate hard, start paying off that mortgage, and ride the upside. You're going to have to do extremely well to beat that as an investment vehicle.


• Movement into more liquid investments. I'm not going to be wanting to tie up my assets over long periods - even though that's going to be the only way to get an "attractive" interest rate. Not many jobs will be "safe" in 2009, and it's useful to be prepared: personally, my aim will be around one year's income on hand and liquid.


• If you have enough spare, now is also the time to get into the right stocks. Again, spread - the market is very attractive to buyers right now. Buyer beware though: although a lot of stocks are cheap, that's because the companies are going bust. Don't buy those ones.


• If you can't pick stocks, don't pick horses - look into lending, and look to spread investment across short term lending (3yr+) with tools like Zopa. Banks haven't just stopped lending to bad risks; they're not lending because they're hoarding capital - lots of potentially good customers need money....


• Don't ignore the opportunities around you. My local credit union is moving into my area, and I'm looking hard at it: with financial advisors on board, and a format which turns borrowers into savers, the risks here are lower than elsewhere, and you're not exposed to individual risks.


• Retailers are hurting, because people aren't spending as much - to be honest, now doesn't feel like the time to be spending to me. Although borrowing is cheap, buying goods isn't an investment, it's a write-off. Maintaining the jam tomorrow outlook will be my watchword.


• Now is a great time to set up a business. If you can do it without a loan, great - but if not, don't worry, investment will be cheap as investors and angels try to wring some kind of return out of their money. If you already have a business, look to see how it can expand - particularly, there are going to be plenty of skilled people looking to supplement their income on the side. Now is the time to tap them.

Most people won't have heard of Codeweavers. They provide software on Linux which allows you to run Windows apps and games (most of the time). A little while ago, they issued a challenge to President Bush to make the most of his remaining days in office by achieving a significant goal of some sort, one of:

1. Reduce the Price of Gas
2. Reduce the Price of Food
3. Create More Jobs
4. Rejuvenate the Housing Market
5. Bring Osama Bin-Laden to Justice

Interestingly, each one of these goals was made measurable: so, to achieve the "Create More Jobs" goal, all Bush needed to do was add a single job to the overall employment (non-farm workers) figure. If milk could be bought for $3.50 per gallon, the food goal would be met. Bringing Bin-Laden to justice is relatively obvious, and the housing market task was to restore property prices to their median value of a year ago.

It was pretty obvious when Codeweavers set this challenge that they were betting against any of these conditions actually coming true. But they didn't count on the world economy collapsing; and indeed, gas has fallen a whole dollar per gallon - so the goal has been met (indeed, the most pressing goal as voted for by the visitors to the site).

Codeweavers will be now giving away copies of their software for free, including support, tomorrow.

Anyone think Bush will achieve another goal? Still a few weeks left....

It annoys me when numbcow leaves lights on, but it annoys me even more when there are two lights on in a room.

On asking, she will usually switch one off quite happily. Tonight, we managed to leave the main bedroom light off for all of fifteen seconds before she turned it on again, having literally forgotten that she'd just switched it off.

Sometimes I see a story and I'm sure it's going to spread like wildfire on the interweb. This time not, so much, and I don't understand - don't people want to know what goes into a kebab?

Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court heard about a long list of hygiene breaches at the Cannock Road shop.

A statement of facts, read out to the court, said: "Upon his arrival the officer observed a dead male lying on a sofa at the rear of the main kitchen.

"Sat opposite to him was Mr Singh who was preparing food, making kebabs."

I mean, you obviously have to get your priorities straight.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said the death had not been found to be suspicious and no further action had been taken over the matter.

So that's alright then.

Best piece of Dom Joly overheard the other day on my way back from Belfast:

"Helloo?! Hello! Yeah, I'm in London. No, Gatwick. Yeah. We're touching down right now..."

Incredulous looks all round.