Friday 21 March 2008

a morning baptism

I just heard about a very interesting Polish tradition called Wet Monday or Dyngus Day. Do traditions migrate as people migrate?

Thursday 20 March 2008

bloggers

I was just glancing through some "popular" Irish blogs; I have the word popular in quotes because I don't what value of popular they are. They seem so self-indulgent and so self-important, my blog probably suffers similar ostentatiousness, which leads me to wonder about the quality of blogging and our rationale for doing it.

Friday 14 March 2008

ramble ramble

An old colleague of mine has a company blog, where I saw a novel use of gaming. Downloading a game over bluetooth in a shop, allows the person to get discounts based on their score in the game. The blog also has a picture of a rollable display which looks cool.


How to link parenthood with software development.

A free book I think..

Thursday 13 March 2008

Wireless Pacemaking

Sometimes, you just don't think about what things contain a wireless device. Then again, I am fortunate enough that I have not had to think about something like a pacemaker. When you do think about something like a pacemaker, you can see the benefits of wireless technology. One could obtain diagnostic information or even, if necessary, fine tune the pace maker without requiring physical access to it.

Of course it is only a matter of time before you start to wonder about the safety of wireless technology in such a device. Technews brought the whole subject to my attention. In their news round up, they listed an article from a research group who found that they could hack into a pacemaker and get it to perform various actions.

And today, Technews reports that some electronic equipment such as digital frames, ipods, and sat-nav devices, come with viruses preinstalled. They suspect that these incidents are accidental and occur when a test PC is accidentally infected by an employee, but if you were a conspiracy theorist...

I wonder can you get a virus checker for a pacemaker?

Tuesday 11 March 2008

no publicity is bad publicity

I hadn't seen the list of modern evils until I saw Skitz's post.

Genetic manipulation, does that mean conceiving a baby is a sin?

Environmental pollution, does that include belching or flatulence?

Inflicting poverty, does that include inflicting poverty on yourself? To give a beggar money or not to give, that is the question?

Violation of fundamental rights of human nature, which rights are these?

Drug trafficking and consumption, is the sacrifical wine included in this?

Friday 7 March 2008

still wondering

An article on the BBC website instigated the thinking about cultural rights in a global context in my wee mind.

The article portrays the perspective of a Japanese whaler on whale hunting which is banned by the International Whaling Commission. Japan still hunts whales for scientific purposes.

Initially, I compared the hunting of whales in Japan to bull fighting in Spain and fox hunting in Ireland. These are activities that invoke much passion amongst the pro and anti groups. Then I started wondering about activities that deeply affect people, such as forced marriages, genital mutilation, and the caste system. I am still wondering...

Tuesday 4 March 2008

randomness

Should you wash your hair or not?

More potato news from Peru, where they have more varieties of potato than any other country.

I wouldn't be surprised if current politicians were using opposite members' horoscopes for political gain.

But I don't feel like dancin'
When the old Joanna plays
My heart could take a chance
But my two feet can't find a way
You think that I could muster up a little soft, shoop devil sway
But I don't feel like dancin'
No sir, no dancin' today.

On that note, am giving up dancing for a while, need more time to get other things done.