Lifestyle change goes on
Well, so far my change in eating habit has been successful. I’m losing just over a pound a week, so slow and steady.
It requires a little mental fortitude, but not an excessive sacrifice of life’s small pleasures. Eating once a day, cutting out snacks during the week, and only drinking a pint with my meal seems to be doing the trick. At weekends I allow myself some snacks and either a few shots of whiskey or a bottle of wine. Once a week, if the mood takes me, some junk food (though the urge to eat junk food seems to have abated as the weeks pass, I guess my body has less cravings as it is weened of fat, salt and sugar).
Now, none of this success is particularly attributable to virtue on my part. I’m not sure that I’d be half as inclined to self denial during the week if I were still working at home (I have the breaking strain of tissue paper when it comes to self denial). However, it’s working and hopefully, by the time I return to solitary work at home, my body will no longer be craving food in large quantity or with lots of fat, salt and sugar, making it easier to maintain a healthier diet. This, however, remains very much to be seen.
Add comment February 8, 2010
Spring cleaning
Okay, I know it’s not spring yet, but you get the idea. I was fed up with running with only 10GB or so free disk space and I don’t want to void my support contract by replacing the existing 250GB hard-drive with a larger one (I have a pre-2009 Macbook Pro and replacing the hard-drive involves more serious surgery than I am willing to attempt while it’s still within the 3 year support contract).
There are many ways to examine your hard drive to identify where it’s all being used up. In my case I pretty much knew which directories where eating up all the space, but out of curiosity as much as anything else I tried a couple of disk analysers.
The first was OmniDiskSweeper, a free utility from the OmniGroup (the same people who make the spectacularly good OmniGraffle diagramming tool, and the ever-useful task management tool OmniFocus).
OmniDiskSweeper is simple and efficient. It scans your disk, reporting the total space assigned to each folder. Folder sizes are totalled so that it is relatively each to see which folders contain the most material.
The weakness of OmniDiskSweeper is that is it possible to miss large files that could be removed if they are buried in among other large files. The lack of a broad overview means these files can be overlooked.
This is not a weakness shared by the second disk analyser I used, the beautiful (and useful) DaisyDisk (free unrestricted demo with a nag screen, or $19.95). The reason for the apparently odd name of this tool becomes clear when you see the analysis display.
It looks vaguely flower like and I assume ‘Daisy’ was chosen for it alliterative quality.
DaisyDisk performs the same task as OmniDiskSweeper. It scans the selected drive, noting each files size and totalling each directory’s content. Where DaisyDisk wins out it in this flower-like display. It is a simple matter to see where file space is being used and spotting large files or directories among all the other clutter is simple, just look for the larger coloured segments. The colour coding provides easy identification of the sort of space (differentiating Library, User, Applications, and System files, among others). Hovering the mouse over one of the coloured segments provides specific details of actual size, path and for folders a breakdown of the largest constituent files and folders it contains.
Need a closer look at a specific folder? No problem, double click the relevant coloured segment and the display focusses on that folder. The makes examining deep folder structures with many smaller files much more comfortable.
Well worth a look if you want to figure out what is eating up your disk space.
The result of all this investigation is confirmation of my previous suspicions and so I have just archived three large folders containing media for the training course I produced last year (a grand total of 60GB of data). Add to this the removal of temporary render files used by Final Cut and my previously 10GB or so of free space has expanded to a comparatively capacious 91.2GB.
Anyway, long story short. With the archive and cleanup complete it provides a bit of breathing space and let me get on with producing some more media projects I have in mind.
The next time I’m in an Apple store I’ll ask about the possibility of dropping in the 500GB clone drive. If they can do this under the support contract I’ll definitely take that option as it will mean less messing around archiving data (and inevitably restoring it the next time I need to work on the files).
Add comment February 7, 2010
Mac OS X security exploits are like vampires
There are currently few exploits for OS X in the wild (oh yes, there are a few, so let’s not be complacent). There are several reasons for this; primarily, the market share of OS X in the operating system market is small enough that it is less likely to be attacked (why go for 5% of a market when you can aim at 90%); second, although OS X has vulnerabilities its core architecture is less prone to attack than certain other OSes out there; third, OS X users are less likely to go in search of hacked software (one of the major malware gateways); finally, OS X users are smarter and better looking than users of other OSes. Okay, I made that last one up.
So, there are fewer exploits for OS X, what’s all this vampire stuff? (more…)
Add comment February 6, 2010
Post-a-day slipping
Well, despite my best intentions, I’m slipping with my goal of a post each day. It’s not that there is a lack of subjects to post about, it’s simply a matter of time and effort. Producing a post, even a short one like this, takes time and at least some thought. Frankly, dealing with bigger subjects takes more time than I have in an evening.
Anyway, I will continue to try maintaining a reasonable flow of posts. I have several posts in draft form but they need some attention before I cast the forth.
In the meantime, a song…
Nah. Just kidding.
Actually I’m currently listening to Newsnight, on which some appalling self-righteous religious assholes are promoting a law to make homosexuality punishable by death in Uganda. It really is revolting that these vituperrious shits select one passage from their story book and use it to abuse other human beings. Especially as they ignore the vast majority of the rest of the book.
Okay, that’s pissed me off so I’ll leave you now and go steam quietly in the corner.
Add comment February 3, 2010
iPad for n00bs?
A comment in Doc Searl’s recent iPad post got me wondering whether the iPad market is really the n00bs, the people who have yet to enter the computer market. All those users who want simplicity. They just want something that provides access to the internet, e-mail, perhaps basic letter writing, their photos and some music, all provided in an attractive easy to use package.
Okay, netbooks fill those criteria, but they are still seem as ‘computers’ by most people and the idea of a ‘computer’ conjures, for many, the impression of complexity. Most netbooks us Windows and for all its efforts to provide simplicity it is still more complex than many people are comfortable with.
The iPad is sufficiently different that people will not see it as a computer; the fear is removed. It removes complexity. No ‘Start’ menu, just point to the thing you want and it starts. Pressing something on the web browser causes the link to be called up. Swipe to scroll or turn pages in an e-book. The keyboard appears when you click in a field that needs input and disappears when it is no longer needed. Resizing images is performed with the intuitive pinch motion.
Oh, and the iPad entry model is cheap compared to the competition.
Yes, I can see that the iPad (even in its current form) has a place with users who want a commodity item that is not a ‘computer’ but provides access to the information age.
Add comment January 30, 2010
iPad
So it’s here, the latest Apple offering is, as many, many pundits predicted, a tablet. Watching the launch I confess to being underwhelmed by the technical specification. It is, frankly, rather dull. However…
So too was the original iPhone. Remember the original iPhone 1.o? An object of design desire no doubt, but otherwise rather dull, offering only 2G and no developer access. The iPad is, I suspect, going to follow a similar trajectory to the iPhone. The first generation is wifi only, the second (to follow swiftly) will add 3G with, in the States at least, an attractive carrier package that will make it a more promising offering. I also suspect that the third iteration will be the model I buy.
By generation three the iPad will be not only eye-wateringly beautiful and attractive to use (those fortunate enough to get hands on at the launch report delight at the user experience), but it will also have attracted some innovative applications. I also suspect Apple will add new hardware features; a camera or two perhaps, making it an ideal video conferencing platform, and maybe GPS to make it a very attractive platform for augmented reality applications.
So, while the first (and second) generations are currently not offering a sufficiently attractive package to compel me to join the inevitable legions of early adopters I am in the queue of people waiting for the platforms inevitable evolution and keenly await its arrival.
Add comment January 29, 2010
Fatigue
It is immensely troublesome when your sleep pattern becomes disturbed. As anyone who suffers such a discomfort will tell you it has a knock on effect. Your mood changes and your ability to focus attention on a task in hand is compromised.
It is in this condition that I found myself over the past few days. This has made blogging, both here and on my professional blog challenging (to say the least), and I have found it challenging to attend to my work. Of course, in this latter matter I have little choice but to commit myself to overcoming my ennui.
Anyway, the week is almost done and I look forward to a restful weekend. My hopes for this evening are simply a good night’s sleep, a hope bolstered by the application of pain killers to combat a persistent headache and backache, both the exacerbated by restless nights. An early night along with the pain abating under the onslaught of Veganine (a blessed cocktail of Paracetamol and Codine) I think tonight will provide much needed relief.
Tomorrow I face the less than joyous prospect of a six hour drive, so a restful night is essential preparation. Here’s hoping.
Add comment January 28, 2010
If you’re innocent you have nothing to worry about
This is the single most feeble minded position offered in defense of intrusions in people’s private lives.
Consider the UK governments obsession with spying on, indexing and cataloging their citizens. Often proponents of things like the DNA database, identity cards and consolidated cross department data sharing trot out the ‘if you’re innocent you have nothing to worry about’ trope.
Really? You’re that naive?
The problem is not that the government are competent enough to use this information to spy on their citizens (let’s face it they can barely manage to keep track of their citizens for most legitimate reasons – like not sending tax bills to dead people). The problem is that they are incompetent to be trusted with such a vast amount of information. There is simply no way to ensure that this information is secure (lost disks, USB sticks and laptops containing sensitive information are forever being reported in the news).
My concern is not over ‘Big Brother’ but over ‘Nosey Parker’ and ‘Fraudulent Fred’ who, if pst records are anything to go by, will have even more access to more data if the government is permitted to keep increasingly invasive information about their citizens.
Add comment January 27, 2010
Haiti and the act of giving
Why do so many people treat the act of giving to good causes, such as (in my opinion), the RedCross, MSF, Oxfam, CharityWater among many others, as something to be done in response to a disaster such as the Haitian earthquake?
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s terrific that people do give and the Haitians need all the help they can get, but here’s my point. Why only give when things are desperate?
I have not given to the Haitian appeals. Why not? Simple, because I give regularly. All the time. Every month. All year round. I say this, not to excuse my lack of giving even more, nor to vilify those who do not give at all, nor to trumpet my own philanthropy (I give only amounts I know I can sustain) but to ask those who do give in extremis to consider giving all the time.
Giving regularly is a painless process once you start. Giving just ten pound a month to the RedCross is not much from most people’s salaries and once it starts leaving regularly it is barely noticeable (I know because this is what I do, and if ten pounds a month is a lot from your income then how about two pounds?) – most people in the UK pay ten pounds a month for their TV license and many also pay more than ten pounds a month for broadband, cable or satellite TV! Ten pounds a month to the RedCross means that every year you are providing them with £120 (plus reclaimed tax in countries that permit charities to reclaim tax on contributions). Think about that. Every year, whether there is a disaster or not, the RedCross will have £120 to put toward helping other and to set some aside (as they do) to fund disaster relief.
The point is that make a lump sum contribution of over £100 to a disaster fund such as the Haitian earthquake is something few would do, but setting aside ten pounds a month is significantly less painful and ultimately more productive.
If you prefer MSF’s work, or Oxfam’s work then set up a regular donation to them.
The great thing is that once you start making regular donations you will barely notice, but those who benefit will. What’s more, in times of crisis you can still add more by making additional one off contributions.
Right, I’m off to add what I can to the RedCross funds.
Add comment January 25, 2010
‘Solving’ Global Warming
There is much to hate about the Global Warming movement, especially the politics involved. Any query is met with, ‘denialist!’, irrespective of the merit of the question. There is also a tendency to overstate the case.
A Newsnight episode back at the start of December 2009 invited an ex-scientific advisor to the UK government to present the case for global warming to the great unwashed public. Almost the first words out of his mouth were, ‘if all land ice melted the sea level would rise by 100 metres’. Now, this may be true but it is nothing, nothing, to do with the current debate. The IPCC present a worst case scenario for the next hundred years, in which it predicts… Prepare yourself… A rise in sea level of… 0.58 meters.
Now, call me a cynic but 100m is just a little different in its impact that less than 60cm.
Yes. The world is warming.
This warming may even be a direct consequence of human activity (the case for this is less than overwhelming). But even if it is the case that current warming trends are wholly attributable to human activity this in no way implies that the solution lies in some form of self flagellation, hand wringing, or even self denial.
The problem is that current climate models are akin to Ptolemaic models of the cosmos. Somewhat shaky in the ability to make predictions and subject to constant revisions in the light of new data (and there is nothing wrong with this providing we do not pretend any degree of certitude where none exists).
I say, continue the research, continue improving our understanding of the immensely complex relationships that affect the climate, but for heaven’s sake do not pretend that by cutting carbon emissions we will fix things or even make them substantially better in the future. Even the IPCC’s own report makes fairly conservative estimates of the difference such measures would make and even worst case predictions place almost all of human enterprise in a better position in 100 years than they are now, even if we do nothing.
Apart from the current inability to accurately forecast climate change, there is the more general problem of how we deal with the change when it comes (and the one thing of which we can be certain is that the climate will change in one way or another, it always has, and it always will).
So, do we succumb to the political promise of a globally concerted effort to change the climate, or do we unilaterally prepare for the worst while hoping for the best?
Let’s consider the global option first. This option assumes that all countries will agree to reducing carbon emissions for the greater good. Even if we assume such action will actually make a difference to the climate the chances of actually getting all countries of the world to agree and actually act on that agreement is so close to zero it might as well be zero.
The governments of the world cannot even agree on how best to control an entirely artificial system like the world banking system so what are the odds they will control something like the climate? What do you suppose the motivation is for rising industrial countries to curb their carbon emissions at the request of countries that have already accrued all the benefits from burning fossil fuels? And if countries like China and India do nothing, what will the response from the West be? Just sit back and lose competitive advantage? I doubt it.
So, there’s pretty much no chance of curbing the current carbon emissions in any serious way. Certainly not enough to actually change the climate significantly.
The alternative approach is to shovel money into dealing with the, pretty well inevitable, consequences of climate change. Figure out how to grow crops in arid conditions and obtaining greater crop yields, using genetic modification if necessary. Work on engineering projects to protect against flood or drought (according to need). Work on better utilisation of land for living to deal with denser populations. This is the approach mankind has always taken; use tools, make fire and clothing, in other words modify your immediate environment to suit yourself and protect against the vagaries of climate, weather and the external environment over which you have little control. It’s has been our evolutionary advantage for over 60,ooo years and I suspect it will continue to be into the foreseeable future.
In the meanwhile, work on alternative sources of energy. After all fossil fuels will eventually run out, even if they are not abandoned. Solar, wind, water are all eco-appealing and all of them are more or less uselessly inadequate to sustain the growing energy demands of the human race. Nuclear is the only realistic source of energy at the moment.
Although nuclear fission has done well, it is not very efficient and has that nasty tendency to produce byproducts that kill people. It is puzzling why governments are not investing more heavily in nuclear fusion research. (Well, actually it’s not puzzling when you look at tax revenue generated from fossil fuels and all the lobbying interests that accompany them.)
Nuclear fusion is safe (sustaining a reaction is so difficult that any accident at a fusion plant would almost instantly result in a failure of the reaction releasing little more than a bang and a cloud of water, hydrogen and helium) and the byproduct of, for example, hydrogen fusion is helium; neither of which pose a great risk in the small quantities required in a fusion reactor. Sadly, producing a sustained fusion reaction is still a few years away.
The really sad thing is that governments are not seriously finding fusion research, the one energy source that holds the promise of fulfilling the worlds energy requirements cleanly and cheaply. It’s more politic to keep talking about measures like carbon capture and carbon reduction. Measures that are easy to promise and almost impossible to deliver. Measures for which an easy promise will garner great headlines today, but with the promised (and far from certain) rewards decades away, politicians today will never be held accountable for their failure.
Add comment February 9, 2010