Opting in to Internet porn

I read that:

'THE UK Government is to combat the early sexualization of children by blocking internet pornography unless parents request it, it was revealed today.'

A few thoughts: first I doubt that this will not just apply to parents but in fact to every internet user, second how long before the names of those who opt in to accessing pornography are stored on a database and thirdly how long until that database is leaked?

That IT Crowd - 'Let's say you've gone back in time' - T-Shirt

Last night's IT Crowd included a short piece with Roy wearing a very geeky T-shirt; the top line said 'Let's say you've gone back in time' - did you spot it? The T-Shirt is designed for time travellers and could be very useful in such a situation...


So far I have found this T-Shirt at a couple of US suppliers including wtfoodge and TopatoCo - anybody know of a UK stockist?

Here's to 2010 (part 2)

Further to my earlier post, here's a few more.

Ten other predictions for 2010:
1. An Islamic jihadist attack will succeed and hundreds will die but still 'the West' will not acknowledge the reality of the threat
2. Iran will test a nuclear device and the UN will still pretend that they pose no threat to Israel or anyone else
3. The Man Made Climate Change religion will increase its hold on the western world's politics and the 'warmists' will make holding 'deniers' views even more difficult
4. Microsoft will release Office 2010 to replace Office 2007 but most businesses will still stick with Office 2003
5. Nigel Farage will beat John Bercow to take his Buckingham seat
6. Matt Smith's portrayal of The Doctor will not match up to David Tennant's
7. The Big Brother team will engineer a 'controversy' for the final series, I won't care
8. England will not win the World Cup
9. Andy Murray will not win the Wimbledon title
10. NotaSheep will continue to blog


Happy New Year...

Autoplaying videos - how to stop them

I have had a few regular visitors complain about auto-playing video clips on this blog.

This is interesting, in a geeky sort of way, because I hadn't noticed that any annoying video was autoplaying on my site. But that could be because the only browser I normally use is Firefox with the Flashblock add-in. This add-in allows you to choose whether to play flash video or audio files, so nothing autoplays.

If you find yourself suffering with this problem then I suggest you swap to Firefox and Flashblock.

If you are an Internet Explorer then I believe Pop Up Cop and Stop Autoplay will do the job, although I have tried neither.


Of course another alternative would be mute your sound-card or turn off your speakers temporarily!

Another iPhone App

This time the iGun



Thanks to Dizzy Thinks for the spot.

Apollo 11 launch video

Apollo 11 launched 40 years ago so here's some video footage to remind you of the sheer power of the Saturn 5 rocket.


Nine minutes of interesting pre and post launch video for the geeks.



Launch with altitude and velocity data, very interesting indeed.



Some rather special NASA footage



High speed camera footage of the launch

The power (and danger) of Twitter

The Guardian report that:

"Police in Guatemala have arrested a Twitter user and confiscated his computer for "inciting financial panic" after he urged people to remove funds from a state-owned bank.

Jean Anleu Fernandez, 37, was handcuffed, fingerprinted and jailed for posting the 96-character message on the micro-blogging site earlier this week. It is thought to be the first such case in central America.

Police raided the information technology worker's home in the capital, Guatemala City, on the orders of the public ministry division in charge of banks, according to local media.

The head of the banking system, Genaro Pacheco, said Anleu admitted sending a single Tweet about Banrural, a bank at the centre of a murder mystery which has engulfed the government in a political storm.

Anleu, who on his blog says he loves books and "geek stuff", sent the message on Tuesday using his online name "jeanfer". It said: "First concrete action should be remove cash from Banrural and bankrupt the bank of the corrupt." The message ended with the tag "£escandalogt", an online term for the political scandal.

Inciting financial panic is an offence in Guatemala which like much of Latin America has a history of economic volatility. The IT worker is due to be held in jail until payment of $6,500 fine after which he will be placed under house arrest pending trial."

Microsoft do it again

In the early hours of New Years Eve (31 December 2008) every 30GB Zune (Microsofts' iPod slayer) froze and refused to work any more. There is an easy fix, open the player (thus voiding your warranty), unplug the battery, wait a few seconds, plug back in again and all will be well.

However what is more interesting is why all 30GB Zunes crashed at the same time: glitch in the operating system, sabotage, virus or maybe just a good old fashioned dose of Microsoft incompetence - it wouldn't be the first time.

Am I glad I just have a rather elderly iRiver, never goes wrong.