Who knew?

Privacy? Wossat?

2006-05-29T01:17:00.000Z

I remember watching Enemy of the State way back in the day, at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. I came out the cinema looking for CCTV cameras all around me. The feeling of paranoia soon wore off, however, and I went back to my confortable state of ignorance.

Fast forward eight years, and the paranoia is back. Sadly, I don’t see it leaving me quite so easily this time. I watched BBC 2’s awesome ‘The Money Programme’ [bbc.co.uk] the other night, which was all about how we’re increasingly watched and tracked by both business and the state.

Essentially, the argument boils down to this: there are good, solid business cases for the vast majority of surveillance that is conducted by companies. However, problems arise when staff no longer feel trusted, when that information can be obtained by the state, and when many seemingly disparate and innocuous pieces of information can be pulled together to paint a picture and track the movements of individuals.

I think I’m going to carry this theme forward a bit over the next few posts. To give a flavour of what’s in place today, think about the following. We receive itemised phone bills for our landlines and mobile phones. It’s handy for us to know who we’ve called, and to check that our bills are accurate. Phone companies are required to keep these logs of who, when and for how long we’ve called for several years. Mobile phone companies also record all the text messages we send and receive – and that includes the actual text content. On the internet, ISPs keep a record of all the emails we send and receive – including their content. They can also keep a log of all the websites we’ve visited. Then of course there’s Echelon, the shadowy electronic surveillance super-machine that intercepts and analyses hundreds of millions of digital communications (including voice) every hour of every single day.

But it’s not just our communications that are recorded. All our credit card and banking transactions are recorded electronically, too. ‘Loyalty cards’ record our buying habits, telling stores what we bought and when. Our movements are tracked by the UK’s network of an estimated 5 million-plus CCTV cameras. Some of these are capable of automatic number plate recognition. Automatic facial recognition isn’t far away. There are CCTV cameras on busses and trains. The London underground is expanding its current network of 6,000 cameras to 12,000 over the next five years. The Oyster card (a handy smartcard for public transport use in London) keeps a record of all the journeys you have made. Last year, the police requested these details for over 200 separate individuals. In the UK, we are caught on camera approximately 300 times every day.

And all that’s just for starters…

Drivers of Change

2006-04-06T23:06:00.000Z

As I've mentioned before, I'll be moving to London to join an engineering firm called Arup this September. I've also mentioned before that I'm really quite fascinated with the future and what it might bring. What does the surveillance society mean for us? When will building have to generate all of the energy they use? How will the Earth sustain you and nine billion other people?

Well, whaddya know... a few weeks ago, Arup released a set of 50 cards called 'Drivers of Change'. These cards are the result of Arup's Foresight & Innovation team's research in to the forces that are shaping our world. They're themed around five main areas; social, economic, political, environment, and technology, with ten cards under each area. Each card has a picture on the front and some text and a graphic on the back.

Unfortunately the set of cards costs £20 to buy, but from what I've managed to dig up on the internet, they make for some interesting reading. The cards cover everything from atomic engineering to fear to food legislation to urbanization. It's a comprehensive look at the world around us and how it's changing. I might even splash out and buy myself a set.

I can't wait to get started working for them. Be sure to check out the Drivers of Change website.

Need... to... know...

2006-04-01T23:21:00.000Z

I want to know far too much about far too many things - and the problem with the Internet is that it's perfectly suited to feeding my crazed addiction to information.

Luckily, a bunch of crazy librarians have finally come up with what they claim is a cure for information overload. Check it out - I'm sure hoping it helps me!

Hopefully, a fuller post will be coming soon. :-)

Surreal

2006-03-21T23:41:00.000Z

You know when you’re just going about your daily life as normal, and then something small, but out of the ordinary, happens? The sort of thing that makes you stop for a second and puts a smile on your face? I love those moments.

They can happen for all sorts of reasons… deja vous, coincidences, anything. Well, I remembered one such moment today, and it brought a smile to my face. So I thought I’d share.

A few weeks ago my sister was flying up from London to come home for the weekend, and I was to go and pick her up from the airport. Now, our house is under the flight path out of/in to Glasgow Airport, but the thought that something like this could ever possibly happen had never crossed my mind before.

As is usual for me, I was cutting it pretty fine to get there in time to pick her up. As I closed the back door and turned round to lock it, I heard a plane passing over head. I looked up to see the BA flight my sister was on (it could only be hers; there are no other BA flights at that time of night) pass above my head, just as I was setting out collect her. I think that’s pretty cool!

That brought a real smile to my face. For me, it’s wee moments like this that make life fun.

Powerful Stuff

2006-03-19T20:20:00.000Z

So the other night I was procrastinating (clearly, this was shortly before our Masters project was due a couple of weeks ago). And, as I’m sure every student knows, among the most Fundamental Laws of the Universe is, “If you have something to do, you will definitely find alternative things to do to keep yourself otherwise occupied, no matter how menial. If you have nothing to do, you will not find anything interesting enough to keep you occupied, no matter how fascinating”. I hate that Law.

Turns out, though, that it’s not all bad. Because on this particular night, it led me to Google Video. Which is generally quite cool. I ended up watching a 30-minute lecture entitled “All Marketers are Liars”, given by author Seth Godin (a Stanford MBA and business writer/speaker). The lecture was given at Google HQ, as part of some mad speaker series they have for their staff.

Now, me being as sad as I am, a bit of a business geek, AND having cause to procrastinate, I ended up watching it. T’was quite interesting, but I’ll spare you the details (though they do involve purple cows and a short man with a bald head [no, I don’t mean me]). My point is, that from this video I followed a link to Godin’s blog, from whence I followed another link to another page, which was entitled “10 Steps to Creating a Successful Web2.0 Company”. Again, I’m sad enough to find something like this somewhat interesting (remember also, that one is subject to the Fundamental Law of Procrastination, just as Gravity keeps one’s ass inescapably on the ground).

Having read this article, I thought of my Canadian friend who is currently starting up his own Web2.0 company (well whaddyano), and so double-clicked his name in MSN Messenger and sent him the link to the article. In an instant I’ve got a reply from him thanking me for the article, and we end up discussing the lecture I’d just seen, because it turned out he’d seen it too.

Bearing in mind how sad I am, I think that’s pretty cool, and a powerful demonstration of ‘The Power of the Internet’. I got educated, passed it on to friend thousands of miles away in an instant, and then discussed the material and our thoughts on it together. And that’s not to consider the fact that the Internet facilitated the sharing of the content in the first place, not just my accessing it.

That was close...

2006-03-12T01:21:00.000Z

Woomf. Our trolley fell apart four times in the two days before our final presentation for the Masters project. Instead of spending the last day taking pictures and videos of the completed trolley for the website, we spent it scraping adhesive off and them reapplying it - twice. Such a downer. Crap day all round - we ended up staying in until about 8.30 to practice our presentation for the following morning.

But then, on Friday, the presentation came off without a hitch. It was beautiful, and a real feeling of achievement for everyone in the team. The culmination of months of hard work and some very, very stressful days towards the end there! We had biscuits, tea and coffee for our assessors/project supervisors, a display of the adhesive technologies and testing we'd done, some samples of the shoddy technician work we'd had to find workarounds for, the old trolley and a spectacular unveiling of our new prototype, not to mention the slick presentation itself! The feedback at the end was very positive, and we all went out for a celebratory lunch afterwards. Good times.

The heartstopping moment was when one of the assessors picked the trolley up at the end and started shaking it about, asking us, "Have you tested this joint for fatigue? I'd really like to see how it holds up under some abuse." Our hearts were in our mouths - it was truly terrifying! Thankfully, the trolley held together and didn't fall apart!

I was going to write about some cool stuff (well, I think it's cool) I did on t'internet the other day, but I think I'll save that for another post.

Tardy

2006-03-06T00:54:00.000Z

Tardy. What a great word. I'm getting rather tardy with my blog posts, and it's unacceptable. Fortunately, it's not my fault. It's all Uni's fault. All of it. And until I get my life back at the end of the month, it's likely blog posts will continue to be rather thin on the ground. Which is sad.

My Masters project final report was due on Friday, and we managed (just) to get it in on time. We need to have the website finished by this Friday, and the final presentation is due on Friday as well. At the same time, I have a CFD (computational fluid dynamics)coursework to hand in by next week and a helluva lot of work to do on a business plan project for my entrepreneurship class.

But there's always time for TV! I watched Bremner, Bird & Fortune the other night. I've never really sat and watched a whole episode of it before, butI have to say they were pretty damn good at pointing out the unbelievableness (yes, I know that's not a word) of some of the stuff that goes on in our country.

I'm also loving The Apprentice, although last week's episode really didn't inspire me with confidence in the contestants. Three people broke down in tears and neither team deserved to win - they were both crap.

God - I've really gone downhill. From discussing the world's economic future and global politics to boring people with my uni assignments and thoughts on TV. Pretty sad!

Let me make it up to you. :-)

Some things money can't buy...

2006-02-27T22:11:00.000Z

Priceless.

Terrifying

2006-02-24T00:51:00.000Z

I’d like to refer you to this post, on my good friend Osama’s blog, Rolled up Trousers. From there, he links to a story detailing how one actor, who had portrayed the role of a man released from Guantanamo Bay as innocent after two years of detention (what sort of a world allows that go on unchecked? Western values of freedom and liberty? Hello?), was stopped and question by police. Click on the link to the The LIP. It’s compelling reading:

"She called in a male colleague who threateningly told me to give him the phone before gripping my hands and wrestling it from me. He then sat on a table in the room, grinned at me, winked and went through my phone. I protested, but he ignored me and continued to go through my phone. Then a third officer entered, and all three adopted very aggressive stances, threatening to take me to a police station, calling me a 'fucker', moving in very close to my face, pointing and shouting at me to 'shut up and listen'. I complained at being called a fucker. The officer who still had my phone, and who had sworn at me, smiled at me and then said 'now you’re making things up, no one called you that'."

The government has powers to stop, detain and interrogate us at any time, for absolutely no reason at all, with no requirement for any evidence or even motive. And, according to this account, they claim that they can also deny us access to legal assistance for up to 48 hours. I really do find this genuinely terrifying. Every time I fly the thought of being put through something similar to this plays on my mind. This guy handled himself really well; I'm not so sure I could do the same.

Embarrassing

2006-02-24T00:18:00.000Z

Muslims all over the world are rioting. Like, all of us. Everywhere. At perceived American imperialism, at insulting cartoons, at each other (and - allegedly, I have my own suspicions - bombing each others’ mosques to boot). I find it really, really embarrassing. In fact, when I’m sitting watching the news switching between Muslims rioting in Iran to Nigeria to Syria to Iraq to London to Indonesia, I can’t help but feel that if I weren’t Muslim, I’d probably be thinking something along the lines of, “What the hell is the matter with these guys? All they ever do is get angry about stuff and shoot guns and riot and bomb things and kill people. I don’t like Muslims”. And I’m not exaggerating in order to make my point – I’d really be thinking that. I think I would be able to draw a distinction between the Muslims here and the Muslims abroad doing all the rioting, but the basic sentiment is there.

So that’s one point – we Muslims really need to sort ourselves out and start showing a much, much more professional, media-savvy face. And, nicely, that leads me smoothly on to my second point, which is that all we seem to see in the media is images of Muslims rioting and marching and protesting. Of course, it’s fair to say that that’s because there’s a fair amount of that going on. And I also have to say that some of the pictures – even on ITV news – have been of peaceful demonstrations, for instance of Iraqi Shi’ites and Sunnis jointly calling for peace and calm, and condemning the bombing of the Mosque over there.

But also, it doesn’t help when that’s all that we are seen to do by those watching Western media (again, I concede that we largely have ourselves to blame, but it’s not all our fault, either). When all people see is pictures of angry mobs shooting guns and chanting things in Arabic and burning flags, they forget that there are hundreds of millions more Muslims just trying to get on with their lives in a peaceful manner; people just trying to earn a decent, fair living, to put food in their childrens’ mouths and to improve their lot in the world. People like you and me (OK, so sans children for most of us!).

Masters Project

2006-02-21T19:18:00.000Z

The site is up! It's taken me ages to get there, but I eventually figured it out (with a lot of help from friends). It's a requirement of our Masters projects that we produce this, and you can check out some of the other groups' sites by changing the group letter in the url.

So check it out and let me know what you think. It's far from complete, but the Project side is is getting there. I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out, but there's always room for improvement. Hit me with your criticisms - thanks!

No wonder it's so big

2006-02-20T01:43:00.000Z

I am, of course, talking about the internet (or t'internet, as its known in Yorkshire). As part of my Masters project, my group has to produce a website detailing the project itself and our final product. I won’t bore you with the details just now (I’m saving that for another time), but, naturally, the job of creating the website fell upon me.

I’ve never, ever created my own website. I’ve been told by a million people that html is dead easy to learn, but I’ve never believed them because I’ve tried and failed to learn it, several times. I was determined that this time would be different. And with the help of a piece of software costing several hundred pounds (cough cough), it has been. I’ve actually created something half decent, and even learnt a little html and Javascript along the way.

The point is that if I can make a half decent website with no prior knowledge whatsoever – literally, none – then so can anybody. Now, to anybody with half a brain that’s been obvious for several years, what with the proliferation of the internet and the websites it comprises. There are two reasons the net is so prolific today – it’s free, and it’s easy to add to.

Of course, until recently, the ‘adding content’ bit of the net has been reserved for those with at least half a brain (you still need some ability to learn). The difference with blogging, however, is that you don’t even need that much. It’s the internet for dummies. And when you invite dummies to add to the net (ala me), the result is millions and millions and millions of pages of self-absorbed, emotional garbage and unbelievably ill-informed opinions.

I don’t really have a problem with that, though. A lot of people do, but I don’t really understand why. It’s not as if anyone holds a gun to your head and forces you to read anything. You have choice. So let the dummies keep adding to the internet – it’s in the nature of the beast.

I’m not really sure what the point is that I’m trying to make in all of this. I’m just glad that adding to internet is easy, and getting easier. That’s good for everyone.

Yeah. That’s it.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

2006-02-16T01:29:00.000Z

My apologies (again!) for the lack of regular updates - it's been a pretty hectic time these last few days.

I want to comment quickly on the unbelievable crap that the US government seems to keep churning out. Three things in particular: The US Vice-President shooting a man in the face with a shotgun, US ‘lawmakers’ criticising some Internet firms on their dealings in China, and the US government complaining about an Australian show that found and broadcast previously unseen images of the abuse inflicted upon the inmates at Abu Ghraib.

On the first thing, you’d think with an idiot like Bush as President, the White House communications people would be used to handling PR disasters – but apparently not. Cheney has (to date) refused to comment publicly about the hunting accident, despite the fact that the man has been in hospital since Sunday and has suffered a subsequent heart attack. They were slow in releasing the news, slow in reacting to question, and why on Earth hasn’t the Vice-President of the most powerful nation in the world got the guts to stand up and apologise when he’s made a bobo?

On the second thing, this really does smack of hypocrisy. The US government continues to invade the privacy of its own citizens by trying to force companies such as Google to give up their records of individuals’ search patterns and illegally monitoring the activities of its own citizens, but has the gall to make a song and dance about companies doing legal business in China. The fact of the matter is that the situation in China is far from ideal, but you have to start somewhere – and this is very much a start. And I believe that China is better off with these countries in than out. Some of the rhetoric coming out of Washington is unbelievable. The cynic in me says its more about the US fearing political liberation in China than trying to encourage it.

On the third thing (watch out - this links to graphic images) – oh dear, really, where do you start? The strategy the US government is trying to pull here is pretty clear. Come out hard, don’t deny that the pictures are truly horrific, but be unapologetic in condemning their further publication. Say it will make things harder for our troops, and cause needless violence, because people know we're not about violence. The problem with that line of thought is that anybody with half a brain will think to themselves “Hold on a minute. This is your fault – don’t go crying about it now”. They’ve made their bed, now they must lie in it. The thing that gets me the most, though, is that we only find out about the incidents where soldiers are stupid enough to record their actions (really makes you wonder about the calibre of people they’re sending out there). I’ve not seen a single media source question how much of this disgusting, low-life abuse goes on unrecorded, unchecked and unheard of. I get the distinct feeling that the recorded stuff is only the tip of the iceberg, yet no-one seems willing to dig deeper.

Least of all the conniving American government. Three PR disasters in one week from the world's only superpower! The geek in me says, "OMG uberROFLLMAO LOL!!!!11!1!"

Sad news

2006-02-09T03:59:00.000Z

My father-in-law-to-be passed away on Wednesday night at around quarter to midnight. He had been in hospital for several weeks having initially been admitted with water in his lungs. A few days ago doctors discovered a tumor in his lungs, and his health rapidly deteriorated on Wednesday before he passed away.

Please remember him in your prayers, as well as his wife and the four daughters he leaves behind. Uncle Rashid was known for his good humour and calm temperament, as well as the marvellous job he has done raising his family.

I don't really know what else to say right now. Updates will probably be very erratic for the next few days (not that that's anything new!). Please remember them in your prayers.

Here we go again...

2006-02-07T23:20:00.000Z

I must apologise for the lack of recent updates. The blog honeymoon period, where updating is fun and something I look forward to, is well and truly over. I had been anticipating this stage ever since I started this baby up, but never knew exactly when of how it would hit. Now, updating is beginning to feel more and more like a chore, which is bad. So I need to keep this thing interesting for myself first and foremost, and for all those to take the time to read my ramblings second. Like I’ve said before – I’m selfish that way.

One of the reasons I’ve not posted recently is because I feel like I should say something about the whole cartoon fiasco, but really can’t be bothered. The whole thing has just spiralled out of control into this utterly preposterous situation.

Was the Danish newspaper right to publish the pictures? In my opinion, absolutely not. Do they have the right to do so? Absolutely, according to Danish law. As Muslims living in the West we must understand and respect the ideals and laws of the lands in which we choose to live. These pictures were published because it’s legal. Equally, when such things are legally published we should engage in legal complaint. Freedom of speech does not infer the right to offend, and the newspaper would have done well to consider this before publishing. However, the completely OTT reaction we’ve seen in the Muslim world has done far, far more damage to the image of Islam than these cartoons ever would have done on their own.

There’s so much to be said on this, but I’ll limit myself to just a couple more points. In all the arguing and protesting and everything that’s gone along with this, the point of the outrage has been lost. Yes, Muslims are horrified at the cartoons themselves. However, this is not the main cause of the outrage; rather it is the fact that they were then republished several times out of what appears to have been sheer spite. To a people who already feel victimised and downtrodden, this like was rubbing salt in the wound and then sticking two fingers up in their faces.

What should have been an opportunity for Muslims to explain the significance of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in our faith, and why we abhor any depictions of the prophet or God, let alone such vile ones, has turned in to a deeply embarrassing episode that has left many people in the west wondering why it is that any time Muslims are offended mob culture takes hold, flags are burnt and embassies marched upon. We’ve succeeded in shooting ourselves in the foot, with a shotgun, from point blank range. D’oh.

The decision

2006-02-03T00:39:00.000Z

After my internship at Accenture, I was dazed and confused. On one hand, I’d managed to secure a (very) well paying job that was based out of Edinburgh, which was awesome because it meant I could stay close to home. On the other hand, I’d discovered that I didn’t really have a passion for IT, wasn’t too keen on the culture at Accenture, and I wasn’t sure that I was really ready to commit my life to Accenture’s demands of constant mobility. I was very lucky to be given 4 months to decide on whether I wanted to accept Accenture’s offer.

If I was going to work in Engineering, it was only ever going to be with one firm – Arup. To me, Arup is the very pinnacle of the engineering consulting profession, and everything – from their projects to their culture to their training – is awesome. The downsides were that it would probably require a move to London, the pay would be considerably less than with Accenture, and that I highly doubted that I had the required engineering aptitude to pass the technical interview.

I attended a presentation they held on campus, and sent off my application form in October. Over 3 months and two follow-up emails later, I was finally offered an interview (only a week before I had to give my final answer to Accenture!). The interview was an interesting experience, and I liked the fact that it more informal – I got the impression that the interviewers really cared about the person they were interviewing. In contrast, at Accenture I very much felt like just a ‘number’. The technical interview apparently went very well, and I think my enthusiasm for the field shone through with the interviewers. I was delighted when they offered me the job immediately after the end of my ‘chat’ with the two senior engineers (which had lasted for one and a half hours).

What followed were an agonising two days of deciding between good pay, good location, good company, boring job and average pay, acceptable location, fantastic company and amazing job. In the end I decided that it’s more important to be happy in my job than to have loads of money, and the attractiveness of Arup’s training policy swung it in their favour.

It is, without a doubt, the second-hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life (the first being getting engaged). I’ve been utterly torn over what to do – and even now that the deed is done and I’ve phoned both companies to tell them my decision, I’m still finding it hard to think about anything else! Nevertheless, I can’t wait until I start the new job in September this year.

At last!

2006-02-02T01:26:00.000Z

As I mentioned last night, the reason I’ve not been posting much over the last few days is that I’ve had other things on my mind. Pretty big things, actually – things that are about as big as big things can get. Big, Big Things.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a personal post, so here goes. When I was at school, I always knew I enjoyed maths and science more than art and music (strangely, I’ve also always enjoyed English). So when it came time to go to university, engineering seemed the logical choice. I chose mechanical engineering because it was so broad, and as I had little idea at the time of what I wanted to do for a career, I figured it would allow me to keep my options open.

I can be quite an indecisive person, and have flip-flopped between potential careers throughout my time at uni. Initially I wanted to go in to the aerospace industry, until I discovered I had neither the required aptitude nor any interest in the nitty-gritty of it, so dropped that idea in second year. I went on exchange to the University of Toronto during third year, and during my time there became something of a building geek. So on my return to Glasgow the following summer, I did an internship at a building services engineering firm. In short – interesting job, crappy pay.

During my fourth year I figured I was worth a lot more than what I’d make working as a building services engineer in Glasgow, so instead I investigated the management consulting/big City firms to follow the money. I did an internship with Accenture between my 4th and 5th years, which was very challenging and good fun to do for three months. The best thing I can say about Accenture is that it’s the people who make it a great place to work – everyone is outgoing, down to Earth, good fun to be around and very smart. I was genuinely surprised by how nice everyone was, as I’d expected to be surrounded by people with their heads up their behookies (apparently those types are primarily confined to the financial services companies).

Trouble was, I didn’t find the work at Accenture all that satisfying… and to find out what happened next, including the Big Things I was talking about, you’ll have to tune in at the same time tomorrow!

Yeah yeah, I know what you’re thinking… Crappest. Cliffhanger. Ever.

Bite me.

Loss of Service

2006-02-01T01:06:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of updates (though I'm sure no one actually missed my inane ranting).

I was offered a last minute job interview with Arup (a world-leading engineering consultancy, dealing mainly in the built environment), a company I have long aspired to work for. I spent the weekend preparing, flew down to London yesterday and got back a wee while ago from the interview.

I was offered the job immediately after the interview was over, which is absolutely fantastic.

Problem is, now I'm faced with making a very, very tough decision...

Shock-a-roonie

2006-01-27T00:54:00.000Z

Hamas winning power in the Palestinian elections is one of those turning points in history that is so huge, few are able to predict what will happen next. Personally, I think this has the opportunity to refresh the peace process – but maybe I’m being optimistic. It all depends on how Hamas decides to play it.

My question is not so much ‘What happens next?’, but ‘How did this happen?’ Apparently, I’m the only one who’s interested in this – Google searches on Why/how did Hamas win turned up no exact phrases, and no useful standard search results. World leaders are busy renouncing Hamas and telling them to shun ‘terrorism’ and embrace Israel with peace and love, seemingly neglecting to consider and analyse how it could be that Hamas has pulled off such a stunning victory – from nowhere.

There are several other issues, too. For a start, it seems that the West (including Israel) is all for democracy when it gives them what they want – i.e. puppet governments that will pander to their every demand, and play their agenda for them. But when democracy turns up a result they don’t like, suddenly they’re not so quick to point out that this is the will of the Palestinian people, and so the Israelis must deal with it. Instead, they moan and complain. Again, this leads on to the question ‘Why did the Palestinians elect Hamas?’

I could go on and on, but briefly, here are my other thoughts.

There’s no reason Hamas should abandon all its weapons. The only difference between the military wings of Hamas and Israel is now also gone – before one was merely an organisation of the people, the other and organisation of a state. Other than that, they both kill civilians by targeting civilian areas.
Both Israel and Hamas have indicated recently that they may talk to each other in the future… which in itself was unheard of just a few weeks ago. This is how progress begins.
One of the primary reasons, in my view, that Hamas was elected was that the Palestinians were sick of Fatah, corruption, and the neverending road to nowhere. They’ve put their faith in Hamas, and its now up to Hamas to prove that the faith has been well-placed. Schemes to help communities are one thing – running a government is quite another.
I do have more, but this post is long enough. So I’ll spare you.

Expensive paper. Oh, and we're doomed.

2006-01-26T00:03:00.000Z

Living in a highly modern, technologically advanced country like Britain is great because we can use technology to make ourselves more efficient, and stuff.

Yet somehow it costs the British taxpayer £60 per page for the printing costs associated with Early Day Motions (see a guide to EDMs here) tabled by our MPs in the Houses of Parliament. £60 per page? Mental!

In other news... a wee thought about this globalisation malarkey. To sum up my previous arguments, basically the West is doomed because of the sheer numbers of engineers China and India are churning out year upon year. Eventually, they're going to kick our collective asses - so now would be a good time to learn Mandarin.

Hold on a minute, say the other side. India and China aren't so much producing engineers as spewing them out; in other words, they've got the quantity, but they ain't got the quality. And when they ain't got the quality, it takes superior Western engineers to come in and sort the mess out when they screw up. And that makes any cost savings pointless, and so the West is saved.

Let me finish, say I. They might not be the world’s greatest engineers just now. But give them 10 years (I’m feeling generous, I reckon it’s more like 5). The point isn’t simply that they’re churning out more engineers, but also that they’re getting better and smarter faster than we are. And that’s a bad thing. Because not only are they getting smarter, but in general we’re getting dumber. And we’re graduating fewer engineers every year, not more.

So like I said – we’re screwed. Welcome to the future.

Politics Fatigue

2006-01-24T01:14:00.000Z

Back to uni today - the final countdown. It's weird to think that I'll finally be graduating this year. And getting married. And starting a job. Jeez.

I've been wanting to post some political stuff for the last few days (ala yesterday), but I just don't have the same motivation as when I first started this blog. Partially I think it’s because the blog ‘honeymoon period’ is over – all the juicy topics I wanted to write about have basically been covered (and my opinions/thoughts aren’t developed enough to cover them again), but also I think it’s down to politics fatigue.

It’s like everything in the world is changing, yet it’s the same thing happening every time. Blair and Bush are bad, the terrorists must be stopped, but we must understand why the terrorists do what they do, but they kill innocent people. Two opposing sides, constant debate, little progress. I’m sick and tired of it.

Of course, the situation’s going to get far, far worse before it gets any better. I firmly believe that we haven’t yet seen the tip of the iceberg. There are so many things going on right now that eventually it’ll have to all rise to a crushing crescendo at some point in the future. That will be a truly horrible time.

The many things going on right now include (in no specific order), killing of innocents by terrorists, killing of innocents by governments (i.e. state-sponsored terrorism), unilaterally initiated war, increasing friction between Muslim communities and the Western societies in which they live, hate mongers bent on increasing this hatred, erosion of civil liberties, depletion of fossil fuels, growing international mistrust between East and West, the economic rise of Eastern nations…

…I could go on and on, but I’m guessing most people will have stopped reading by now. I know I would have.

America

2006-01-23T01:03:00.000Z

America is an incredible country, and Americans are justifiably proud of it. In little over 2 centuries, their country has risen to be the most powerful and economically successful nation on Earth. There is little that goes on in the world without their country’s agreement and involvement; they are world leaders in science and technology; and they have a free and democratic society that is protected by the US constitution. It is a truly great nation that has achieved a great deal in a very short space of time.

Of course, there’s a lot that can be said against America, too – a heck of a lot. But I think sometimes America’s detractors (myself included) can lose sight of just what it is they’re up against in terms of the American psyche. Given the stuff I rambled on about in the opening paragraph, I think it’s easy to understand why Americans are so in-your-face patriotic about their country – it is, in their eyes, a land of opportunity, freedom and greatness. And they want to protect it at all costs.

The problem is that all those great achievements have come at a huge cost. If you ignore all the bad things America has done to get to where it is today, then it’s easy to admire the world’s greatest superpower. But when you think about the brutal regimes across the globe that have received American support, the blatant disregard for Earth's environment, the internal race and class struggles, the hypocrisy in their policies, you come to a different conclusion.

And that is why I find it to be a great nation ruled by a truly repugnant government. A government, sadly enough, elected to power by its citizens. Now, what does that say about Americans?

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the hall...

2006-01-21T01:56:00.000Z

Two hours ago, I was sitting in my room quite happily chillaxing before going to bed. Then I heard my Dad shouting me from the hall and walked out to see our combi boiler gushing water all over the utility room and out in to the hall. Lovely.

So after we managed to get the water off, we spent the next hour and a half trying to soak up as much of the water as we could. The water was a lovely muddy colour, and smelt just wonderful. We've got a heating technican coming out first thing tomorrow to take a look at the boiler.

I'm now very tired, very peeved, and feeling very, very dirty. And with no water in the house, there's nowt I can do about it.

G'night.

(Ps. It could have been worse... my friend Robin had a similar experience a while ago. She thought it was a robber taking a shower; my mum thought the gushing sound of water was me taking a shower and my Dad thought it was me washing dishes. It wasn't.)

Where do I begin....

2006-01-19T23:55:00.000Z

... asking how this picture ever came about?

There's just so much wrong here!

Darmstadt, we have a problem...

2006-01-19T18:22:00.000Z

For anyone who thought to themselves, "There's no way Atif could ever work in Mission Control - he's too stupid", turns out you were right.

I discovered that whilst I absolutely have the right skillset (a combination of IT & space engineering knowledge that is hard to come by) I would've been competing against not only other graduates from across the UK, but against the very best phD's and chartered engineers from across the whole of Europe. Not only that, but you are subjected to a very rigorous, challenging panel interview by ESOC staff that is designed to challenge and determine how you think under pressure. If at any point they don't think you'd be able to handle the job, they'll stop the interview right there and ask you to leave. According to my contact, it's "brutal". Quite clearly, I'm not superhuman enough to drop my current job offer and risk going through such a tough process. Ce la vie.

On another note, the government continues to flap about like a headless chicken over the fact that our country is facilitating US torture flights by allowing them to land and refuel at our airports. How can they expect us to believe that there's nothing going on when (a) There's overwhelming evidence to the contrary and (b) They have proven themselves to be a bunch of liars on several occasions.

Exams are done

2006-01-18T00:53:00.000Z

So I’m finished exams now and my life can resume some sort of normalcy; i.e. it’s no longer disruptive to my schedule to have to do such things as talk to my family, eat and wash my clothes. Having my life back is complete awesomeness.

I’m very excited about a new opportunity that has come my way. After my final exam on Monday, Spaceflight Mechanics, I got home to find an email from my lecturer. Basically, there are some opportunities to join the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). Gotta love the acronyms! The opportunity to work at ESA doesn’t normally come about until you have at least a few years’ experience in industry, which is why I’m so excited.

Basically, the FDD is responsible for planning the required orbital manoeuvres of satellites Europe has sent up in to space, such as keeping them pointing in the right direction, moving them around the Earth to point at different targets and ensuring mission goals are met. It’s a phenomenal opportunity, and given my background in both space engineering and IT, I hope I’ve got a good chance of getting the gig. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed - even though it would need me to move to Germany (ah well, we can’t have it all!).

In other news, I managed to completely lose my glasses (duh), was offered a summer job by a previous employer (yay), and am currently enjoying West Wing series 7, now that its finally started up again. Oh, and I bought some socks today (at last).

Rather than boring you with more of the mundanity that is my life, I’ll probably be back to boring you with my usual futile ranting and raving tomorrow.

Normal service is resumed...

2006-01-18T00:31:00.000Z

So I’m finished exams now and my life can resume some sort of normalcy; i.e. it’s no longer disruptive to my schedule to have to do such things as talk to my family, eat and wash my clothes. Having my life back is complete awesomeness.

I’m very excited about a new opportunity that has come my way. After my final exam on Monday, Spaceflight Mechanics, I got home to find an email from my lecturer. Basically, there are some opportunities to join the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD) at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). Gotta love the acronyms! The opportunity to work at ESA doesn’t normally come about until you have at least a few years’ experience in industry, which is why I’m so excited.

Basically, the FDD is responsible for planning the required orbital manoeuvres of satellites Europe has sent up in to space, such as keeping them pointing in the right direction, moving them around the Earth to point at different targets and ensuring mission goals are met. It’s a phenomenal opportunity, and given my background in both space engineering and IT, I hope I’ve got a good chance of getting the gig. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed - even though it would need me to move to Germany (ah well, we can’t have it all!).

In other news, I managed to completely lose my glasses (duh), was offered a summer job by a previous employer (yay), and am currently enjoying West Wing series 7 and Shameless series 3 (ohh la la). Oh, and I bought some socks today (at last).

Rather than boring you with the mundanity that is my life, I’ll probably be back to boring you with my usual futile ranting and raving tomorrow.

Wierd

2006-01-14T01:40:00.000Z

I've been finding myself spending ages reading blog posts by people who are delighted that 345 people died on Hajj this year in a stampede. It makes me feel wierd - not angry or upset, just kind of unsettled. The sheer hate, disregard, scorn and contempt in which these people hold Islam and Muslims is, well, frightening.

I don't know why I read so many of them. It's a bit like why we look at car crashes, I suppose. There's so much wrong in the world today that it's hard to see how it can ever get better.

Big things

2006-01-10T23:59:00.000Z

Well I've been harping on for a while now about having some sort of 'interesting news' to deliver soon.

I wanted to hold off until I’d had the chance to tell most people personally. Now that that’s pretty much done, I’m very pleased to be able to say that… I’m engaged! The desperately unlucky girl is Munaza, and she’s the daughter of a good friend of my Mum’s. Please remember her in your prayers! The wedding will probably be around Autumn this year.

Secondly, and only slightly less significantly, I’m more than likely going to be accepting a job with Accenture, based out of the Edinburgh office. I’m very fortunate to have been offered a job that’s so close to home, and am due to start around August 2007, giving me a year off after I graduate.

So, the rest of my life is being mapped out in front of me. Scary stuff. Meanwhile, the exams drag on… roll on Monday!

Eid Mubarak!

2006-01-09T23:58:00.000Z

Today (Tuesday) is the first day of Eid al-Adha, the three-day Islamic festival marking the end of the Hajj pilgrimage and commemorating the huge sacrifice Prophet Abraham was prepared to make for God.

I only discovered that today was going to be Eid at about 10.30pm on Monday night, such has been the ridiculous extent to which I'm entirely caught up in my studying. I literally had no idea that today was to be the biggest festival in the Islamic Calendar! How sad am I?

To make matters worse, tomorrow after the Eid prayer at the mosque, my whole family is going over to my Auntie’s for a slap up meal and much happiness. Me? I'm heading straight for the library to study.

And I've got my usual exam-time cold.

Life just isn't fair.

Faffinating!

2006-01-08T01:54:00.000Z

Just a quick post to say a couple of things...

1) Hopefully I'll have some interesting news to deliver in a few days...

2) For anyone out there who's ever wondered what it's like to go on Hajj and what it's all about, BBC NewsOnline (yes, I'm a bit of a fanboy!) have a reporter/pilgrim there who'll be keeping a diary throughout the pilgrimage. It's a fantastic way of giving an inside view in to this remarkable annual event. This year, over 3 million people have converged on Mecca for 10 days of spirituality, solidarity and brother/sisterhood building. It's quite moving to think about the sheer scale, diversity and humility of the whole thing.

Controversial

2006-01-03T21:06:00.000Z

I’m going to go out on a limb here and put all my cards on the table. Well, most of them; I’ll save some of them for another time.

I was driving home from the supermarket tonight, listening to a documentary on the radio alleging that the Bush administration regularly interferes with scientific research on global warming. And then it hit me (OK, so loads of people saw this coming a hell of a lot sooner than I did). America is inexorably and inescapably on it’s way down. The balance of power is shifting as we speak. It’s not about to happen – it IS happening.

9/11 was a wake up call that wasn’t heeded, and 7/7 was perpetrated because we were being hit with more of the same. The US & UK governments would have you believe these acts were carried out because terrorists hate people and hate ‘our way of life and our freedoms’. That’s crap. Those evil people did those terrible things because of what the US & UK governments are doing to their people – supporting corrupt regimes, pillaging their natural resources and, most of all, killing their innocent brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers with bombs, tanks and guns . The bo’Islamic fundamentalists’ had had enough. Of course, in Islam killing thousands of innocent people is not the correct way of sending any sort of message, and under no circumstances can murder of any innocents be justified – whether perpetrated by an individual, a ‘terrorist network’ or by the state.

The reason I say America is inevitably and unavoidably on the way down is that there is a growing tide of resentment towards the American government (and the people who elected them). To non-Americans, the US doesn’t stand for peace, democracy and freedom and more. It stands for bombing, killing, exploiting, torturing, and looking after number one. This isn’t just evident in the wars they have started, but in the US’s attitude towards global climate change, global trade tariffs, the UN, and the dictatorial regimes they prop up in countries where they need the oil.

And now, with competition from global powers like those emerging in the Far East, and with the growing contempt in which America is held, and with the ever-increasing number of scandals hitting modern day White House administrations, it is blatantly obvious that America is no longer as strong as she once was. She’s still top of the pile, but there is an uncontrollable chain of interwoven events that has started rolling. And I for one will be cheering when she finally falls from her scandal-ridden, blood soaked perch.

Advance warning

2006-01-01T05:23:00.000Z

It's getting in to exam time for me, so my posting may well become somewhat erratic over the coming weeks. I'll try to post something every few days or so, and then will be back to normal(ish) by mid-late January.

I have a couple of very big decisions about my future which must be made within the next month, on top of uni commitments (exams and Masters project). January is going to be a very, very busy time for me.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress and stuff as and when I can. All the best for 2006 - here's to a safe and prosperous new year for all.

Just a sec...

2005-12-31T01:53:00.000Z

Actually, hang on. I do have something at least a little thoughtful.

A while ago, I read a story on a recent EU Report that expressed concern about how Israel is illegally annexing Arab areas of East Jerusalem, against both international law and the Roadmap peace plan. Nothing new there - we already know that Israel has been breaking several international laws for years.

To me, the most interesting part of the story is the final paragraph. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev refers to the whole unrest as the "Israel-Palestinian" issue. In so doing, he disregards the existence of a Palestinian state and reduces Palestinians to a people without a home, whilst simultaneously stamping the authority of the Israeli state firmly in the listener's mind. Clever.

It's subtle, but that's how Israel wins the media war. Of course, they're not always so subtle. I mean, come on - who could honestly call a 10-foot concrete wall with ditches, guard towers and barbed wire a "peace fence", as they initially tried to name it. That didn't wash with anybody, so then they tried "security fence". But people know fences as nice, pretty and residential. The media has come to use the term "security barrier", which is only marginally better. I find that "apartheid wall" is closer to the truth, or perhaps "blatant land-grabbing and degradation - up yours wall".

But I'd better be careful or I'll be branded as an extremist.

So tired

2005-12-31T01:18:00.000Z

Today has been a long day - my first tough, long day in a while. I won't bore you with the details.

I'm not really up to putting together a coherent post tonight, so I'll leave you enjoy BBC News Online's quirky list of 100 things we didn't know this time last year. Their 2005 Ad Breakdown is also a really good read.

Nice.

Citizen journalism

2005-12-30T00:44:00.000Z

Yesterday I ranted about how we’re under ever increasing amounts of surveillance. Today I’ll rant about a real revolution in the broadcast and print media - citizen journalism.

I was watching BBC News 24 the other night (I had no choice – Dad rules the living room when he’s home). Whenever I’m watching any channel with a ticker scrolling along the bottom, I always get distracted and end up paying more attention to the ticker than to the main broadcast. Along with all the usual snippets of news and sports stories were details of how to submit pictures and videos of news events by email, and even details of how to submit them directly from a mobile phone – including video by 3G.

That’s awesome - unthinkable even just two or three years ago. Looking back at the London bombings, we were shown videos from the bombed carriages that people had captured on their phones, startling images of the panic on the streets, and that gut-wrenching image of the destroyed bus – all captured by people who were right there, on the scene as and when it happened.

We started to see something like this when 9/11 struck, with images caught by people with camcorders at various locations. But the London bombings have shown that it’s moved in to an entirely different scale. There are those who complain and say it’s just the news broadcasters getting people to do their work for them and profiteering at others’ expense and it’s all evil and blah blah blah. Well to them I say, shut the hell up you idiots. First off, no one’s forcing you to send content in. Secondly, the BBC keeps the copyright with the creator and does not take ownership. Lastly, get that chip off your shoulder, you idiot.

This is a good and wonderful thing. And once again, the world has become a heck of a lot smaller.

You're being watched. Right now.

2005-12-29T02:21:00.000Z

It's funny. We live in an age where we're just discovering that anyone, anywhere (who happens to be rich enough to afford the required technologies) can publish anything to the Internet. And yet we're also living in an age where governments across the globe are increasingly clamping down on freedoms we have enjoyed for years. I'll say more about the 'anyone/anywhere publishing' phenomenon in another post. But first let me describe to you our living, breathing Orwellian nightmare. This isn't far off in the future - this is right here, right now.

It's been well publicised that China censors the websites its residents can visit, and requires internet companies such as Yahoo and Google to comply with its strict censorship and monitoring laws. Just recently, in fact, Yahoo assisted the Chinese government in identifying a resident (who was then jailed) who had emailed a pro-democracy group in New York through its email service. And Google, the company founded on the phrase "do no evil", lists only Chinese government approved news sources in its news search service.

The US government has recently pushed through a law that allows the FBI to request cell-tracking data from mobile phone companies without the need for a warrant, effectively allowing them to monitor the movements of any individual in the US, for any reason.

In the UK, we have more CCTV cameras per capita than anywhere else in the world. They're in our stores, our places of work, our streets, our hospitals, our busses and trains, even in some homes. Nationwide, we have over 4 million CCTV cameras. The average London road junction has 10 of them. The average UK citizen is caught on camera 300 times every single day. Come April this year, the police will capture every single motor journey that is made in the UK and store it for four years. They will then be able to search and track the movements of any vehicle they choose.

Then there's Echelon, the system that monitors almost all electronic communications that are passed around the internet, sponsored by the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It scans the hundreds of millions of emails, faxes, phone calls and web postings fired across our planet every day for keywords. When it finds them, it spits the communication out on to the desk of a human intelligence analyst for further investigation. Our mobile companies are required to hold a record of all the text messages we have sent - including the actual content of the message.

We're watched and monitored more than ever. Big Brother is no longer fiction - it's reality.

Reviews of 2005, reviewed

2005-12-28T00:49:00.000Z

At the end of every year, the media for reviews and analyses the past 365 days from every possible angle. There are some that I really look forward to, such as the Sunday Times Magazine’s Year in Pictures (what can I say – I’m not a big reader).

My gift to you is this list of some of the 2005-in-review type thingies that can be found in cyberspace right now. Check 'em out.

Science & Technology

Wired News: Best Tech moments of 2005
Wired News: Worst Tech moments of 2005
Wired News: 2005 Foot-in-Mouth Awards
Slyck: File-Sharing Winners and Losers of 2005 (more interesting than you'd think)
Slashdot: 2005 in Games, by several sources
Sydney Morning Herald: Best Science Moments of 2005 (even though I don't believe in evolution)

News

Washington Post: Best Photos of 2005
Reuters: Pictures of the Year 2005
Time Magazine: Persons of the Year
BBC: Quiz of the Year
Google: 2005 Zeitgeist
Wikipedia: 2005 (The absolute Daddy of them all – a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of the year)

Those are the ones I found interesting... let me know if you know of any more!

It's coming.... slowly

2005-12-27T01:48:00.000Z

I've said in the past that technology isn't truly integrated in our lives, but that we're getting there. To illustrate this point in more detail, we can take the example of recent improvements in public transportation information services.

In London, they’re well up on this game. Transport for London’s website has a fantastic journey planner that can connect you between any two points in London and find the best route with an estimated time that’s usually pretty accurate – no mean feat given London’s varied geography and complex public transport system! Many bus shelters have displays showing estimated arrival times for busses, and of course so do all tube and train platforms. It’s great – that’s truly an example of technology that’s integrated seamlessly in to our daily lives.

The UK’s national Live Departure Boards service won some sort of award last year for most innovative something-or-other. I think our train system is an utter disgrace and a national embarrassment, but this is truly something to be proud of. It’s an online service that allows you to check on the progress of any train service, anywhere within the UK. You can also see the departure and arrivals boards at any train station. If a train is running late, it shows the estimated arrival time (though this should be taken with a large pinch of salt). It’s a fantastic service – I can check how my train is running before I leave the house, and if it’s late, I can spend an extra 2 minutes making myself beautiful. Of course, online journey planning and ticketing is very useful, but has been around for years. This is truly innovative.

But that’s the problem – for the service to be of any use, I have to be at a computer with net access. There are ways of getting timings through SMS or mobile internet, but at present they’re clunky and complicated to use. If tech was truly integrated, I’d wake up and unroll my expandable screen, which would automatically display my train times, that day’s weather, news headlines and so on. I shouldn’t have to go over, wait for my PC to boot up and then load up the webpage. It should be there without me having to give it a second thought. For me, that’s the future.

Braindead

2005-12-26T02:50:00.000Z

Title says it all really. Much as I want to make a thoughful post, I just don't have it in me tonight. I guess that's what a whole day of number crunching and statistic munching does to the brain. By way of compesnation, please accept this (and try not to fall off the chair before you've finished reading).

Acts of kindness

2005-12-25T00:09:00.000Z

I'm really a big softie at heart. There's a section on the Toronto Star's website where readers can submit stories about random acts of kindness they've received in and around the city from total strangers. I find it makes for good reading, especially if I'm ever feeling a bit down or just generally bored.

I don’t celebrate Christmas (or Hanukkah!) , but I know this time of year signifies ‘the season of goodwill’ and other pleasant stuff to a lot of people. So in that spirit, I suggest you check it out. Much as I hate reading things online, I always find this a real joy – a reminder that there are still good and decent people out there.

Holidays? What holidays?

2005-12-24T01:58:00.000Z

A more personal note tonight. I always hate reading personal blog posts like this. I mean really, who cares what's going on inside somebody's head? But I said at the very start that this blog is more about me than my readers, so tough.

As much as I hate my terrible procrastination habit, I can feel myself starting to become something of a workaholic. For a start, I don't like being idle - I always have to be 'doing' something - even if it's just sitting here in front of this computer screen.

So I've got a few things on the go just now. Some pretty major family stuff, for a start. But I won’t go in to that (yet). Then there's uni stuff, i.e. exams to study for and an ongoing Masters project. Really, that should be enough to keep me going over the holidays.

But no... I had to go and get myself involved in some other things, too. I've been working as a teaching assistant during term time, helping out with engineering mechanics tutorials that are taught to first and second years. A few of the students in that class have asked for some tutoring over the holidays, so I'm doing a few hours of that on top.

And now I’ve gone and landed myself in it even further. I worked for an engineering company in the summer of 2004, after I came back from Toronto. One of the things I did while I was there was write a 12 month status report for the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), on a solar panel installation they had funded (or the LSBIPVFT, to give it it's stupid government acronym). Well, I got an email from my ex-boss on Wednesday asking if I’d have the time to write the 24-month report that’s now due… and because I’m stupid I said yes. For some reason, I don’t like turning things like this down. I don't know why I do it to myself.

If you have read this far, then I really do owe you a thank you. You're a better person than I am (I know that's not saying much, but hey!).

I'm confused

2005-12-22T23:46:00.000Z

One of the things about our world that particularly frustrates me is how our leaders are able to lie to us – blatantly – and still be re-elected to office. I just don’t understand it.

Bush & Blair both lied to their countries to get in to the war in Iraq. Yet they’re both still in office. I don’t get it. Why doesn’t the public shout and scream and demand their resignation, demand that we not be treated like idiots and not be lied to?

I’m not saying Saddam was a good man. But these people lied to us to take us in to a war they wanted. And now, 2.5 years later, we’re still there. All the while, our schools and hospitals at home are falling apart and crying out for more funding. Why?

The worst part is, I just don’t see a way out. I want our troops out of there right now, but at the same time if they do leave right away then Iraq will just descend in to more chaos. The might of two of the world’s strongest nations cannot bring under control a country in which they have installed their own puppet government. If that doesn’t tell you that we’re not wanted there, what will?

The general public is so lazy. We don’t ask questions of our leaders any more. And the worst part is, our governments are using the trouble they themselves are stirring to justify creating draconian laws that increasingly prevent us from exercising the very freedoms they shout and sing about from the rooftops.

OK – rant over. Just a few questions to finish with. Did anyone hear about what ever happened to that man who was dramatically forced to the ground and arrested outside Downing Street on 7/7? How could American intelligence really honestly not still have found bin Laden? If these guys canny find bin Laden, and ‘honestly’ got their intel so wrong on Iraq’s imaginary WMD, and famously attempted to make links between Iraq and al Qaeda where there weren’t any, why haven’t the public risen up and demanded change?

Seriously, I just don’t get it. I’m so glad I don’t live in Iraq, slightly less glad that I don't live the US, and very, very disappointed in what's happening to the UK.

What the World wants to know

2005-12-22T01:36:00.000Z

I’ve previously blogged about Myspace, a ‘social networking’ site that is playing an increasingly large role in the social lives of modern American youth (i.e. teens and twenty-somethings). They see no distinction between socialising online and socialising face to face – and that in itself is Big. Well, it turns out that Myspace was the number one top gaining search term in Google’s 2005 Zeitgeist. If that’s not testament to a massive shift in the social norms and behaviours of society's single most important demographic, I don’t know what is.

I had to look up the word ‘zeitgeist’ the first time I ever heard it, so here’s a quick definition for anyone who doesn’t know (taken from Dictionary.com):

Zeitgeist: n The spirit of the time; the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or generation.

The Google Zeitgeist is Google's summary of what people have been searching for (and when) over a period of time. It's normally published monthly. There’s a whole bunch of really interesting stuff in the Google Zeitgeist, but it’s important to remember what it doesn’t tell you. Most glaring is the fact that its primary sources are the wealthy Western and Asian nations where net access is common; sadly, the vast majority of the World’s population are far too poor to have access to this amazing tool.

But, that aside, this is a very cool thing indeed. It turns out that ‘Janet Jackson’ was the most searched for term on Google News in 2005. Who’da thunk it? Of the top ten Google News search terms in 2005, eight are to do with celebrities and entertainment; the other two were ‘Hurricane Katrina’ and ‘tsunami’. Oh, the world we live in.

You can check out the rest of the Zeitgeist for yourselves. I'm a high-level thinker; I love looking at the big picture, global trends and thoughts and projects – it’s just the way I’m programmed. And for that reason, I think it’s awesome that we can get a window on the thoughts and interests that have been uppermost in our collective mind over the past year.

Outsourcing Santa

2005-12-21T19:07:00.000Z

The following comic was posted on a web forum that I post on (BritXbox), just today. How apt!

Different topic tonight. Promise.

Lies, damn lies and statistics

2005-12-21T00:05:00.000Z

I don’t want to bore everyone with my ranting and raving about Globalisation and how the West is doomed, but allow me one more night. Just a few interesting tidbits from here and there that I’d like to include. I promise to find a different topic for tomorrow.

First off is the news today that China has leapfrogged the UK to become the fourth-largest economy in the world. That doesn’t really surprise me. What does surprise me is how they managed this. Effectively, what they did was hold a ‘census’ of their economy – sending people round with clip boards to find out what businesses are doing and how much money they’re making. By doing so, they managed to find an extra 17% in their economy – or $280 billion! Yeesh.

The Chinese economy (GDP) is now worth around $2 trillion. They are behind the US (who are way out in front with a GDP of $11.7 trillion), Japan ($3.8 trillion GDP) and Germany ($2.4 trillion GDP). The UK's GDP is around $1.8 trillion. The increase the Chinese found in their economy is equal to the entire GDP of Turkey.

Secondly, it’s not just British graduates who face a tough job market on graduation. China’s student population is increasing by around 700,000 students every year, yet around 500,000 students struggled to find graduate jobs last year, even though higher education is much more highly regarded over there than it is here. Quite a surprising statistic, and it just goes to show that no economy, no matter how booming, is perfect.

General Electric’s John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore employs 1800 engineers alone (400 of them are PhDs!).

Finally, around 100,000 Americans can expect to have their taxes processed for them in India this year. Now that is a ‘lol’ worthy statistic.

Globalisation in action

2005-12-20T01:47:00.000Z

I want to do some more on this, highlighting how we’re leaking our so-called ‘knowledge economy’ jobs to the East; not just the ‘simple’ manufacturing jobs.

A particularly high-profile example of jobs shifting to the East was when the bagless vacuum cleaner innovator and manufacturer Dyson decided to close its manufacturing plant in Malmesbury, Wiltshire back in 2002. At the time, James Dyson cited factors such as being closer to Eastern markets and suppliers as important considerations. However, he didn’t shy away from admitting that the overriding factor was cost. Some statistics to give an idea of how UK and Far Eastern costs compare are given below; in my opinion, these are rather generous – I would expect wages and property prices in the Far East to be considerably lower than those stated here.

UK worker: £9 per hour
Malaysian worker: £3 per hour
UK office rent: £114 sq m a year
Malaysia office rent: £38 sq m a year

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit and BBC

Importantly, Dyson kept its research and development labs here in the UK – a classic case of shifting the manufacturing jobs to the Far East whilst keeping the brain jobs here. But things are changing rapidly, and over the last few years the UK has seen a number of similarly high profile jobs move to the East. This time, however, they aren’t manufacturing jobs – they’re our much-prized knowledge economy jobs.

The call-centre industry employs thousands of people in the UK, and is seen as an important employment sector with potential for growth and reemployment of those who have lost their low-skilled manufacturing jobs to the Far East. So what happens, then, when employers such as ntl:, BT, National Rail Enquiries (ATOC), Orange, 3, the AA, RAC, HSBC, Aviva, and GE Captial, start moving these jobs out East, too? ATOC expects to save £25m over several years. Amicus, the trade union, says 200,000 call centre and back-office processing jobs will be outsourced to India by 2010.

No matter that the vast majority of Brits (myself included) absolutely hate dealing with Indian call centres (they might be well educated, but their English still sucks) - the companies would rather take the PR hit than keep coughing up more than they have to. So we can wave goodbye to the call centre jobs, too.

But wait, there’s more! Microsoft, Sun, Intel, IBM, HP, Infosys, Cisco, Google, and over 1500 other info-tech, Western employer-of-the-future companies, are expanding their Indian operations – and it’s not just about meeting the demands of the Indian market. It’s about saving money over offering similar jobs to Western engineers. So much for keeping our brainy jobs.

And to think, this is just the tip of a very, very large iceberg.

Hyperbole squared, times infinity

2005-12-19T01:37:00.000Z

Dontcha just love marketing speak? This is taken from an ad in the Sunday Times Magazine last Sunday, placed by Blacks (an outdoors/camping store), for a Columbia ladies’ jacket:

“This is the women’s Voulez-Vous Parka by Columbia” – it’s a stupid product name, but fair enough. I can live with that.

“It works best on any hike because the Omni-Tech Villi Twill XB shell offers excellent breathable protection to keep you dry and comfortable in all conditions.” – More stupid product names (Villi Twill XB? Who comes up with this stuff?), but it’s all fairly standard marketing speak so far.

“And the Ultra Plush Pile lining and Micro-Temp insulation makes sure you’ll stay warm and cosy” – It’s all beginning to get a bit much – Ultra Plush Pile? What’s “Ultra” about it?

“It has a Cyber Twill chin guard to protect your face from the wind”. – Well thank God it’s a “Cyber” twill, cause, you know, those standard Twills just don’t cut it.

“An emergency hood is stored under the collar for unexpected storms.” Oh dear. Describing a hood as an emergency item. Unexpected storms? What if you were expecting the storm? What happens to the emergencyness of the hood then?

“The Underarm Venting System provides maximum air circulation.” – OK, now I’m a fan of underarm venting systems. They help keep me cool. Really. But calling it an Underarm Venting System really doesn’t make it any more glamorous than an ordinary underarm venting system. Really.

“It has a lift ticket D-ring for easy access and lots of multi-function pockets. The front pockets have rubber Titanium zip pulls, easy to open even with your gloves on.” It’s hard to know where to begin with this one. Perhaps someone could explain to me exactly what a “lift ticket D-ring” actually is? My absolute favourite, however, is the “multi-function pockets”. I’ve been waiting for these for ages. I mean, my whole life I’ve been confined to single-function pockets. But now these new-fangled, crazy multi-function pockets are around, I can finally move on with my life. Whoo – technology, eh? Although, I’m left somewhat confused by the “rubber Titanium” zip pulls. Are they rubber or Titanium or both? Does a jacket really need Titanium zip pulls? Do they really need to give Titanium a capital letter?

“The Columbia Voulez-Vous Parka’s unique sleeve construction with Radial Sleeves and articulated elbows give maximum movement. This allows your arms to go up while your jacket stays down, and along with the internal powder skirt, it ensures that all the snow stays out when you’re on the slopes.” The first part of this sentence can be roughly translated as, “This jacket has sleeves. You can move your arms in these sleeves. Now, isn’t that neat.” “Radial sleeves” – what ARE radial sleeves? Similarly, if someone can explain to me precisely what makes the elbows on this jacket “articulated”, I’d be happy to hear from you (as it happens, I’m happy to hear from you even if you can’t).

Maybe I’m just behind the times with jacket technology, but I could’ve sworn my jacket already has multi-function pockets.

Smarter than the other guys?

2005-12-18T01:03:00.000Z

Globalisation is a topic that absolutely fascinates me; in particular, the economics of the rise and rise of the Far East and Asia, and the future downfall of the West. I firmly believe that within 10 to 15 years, the global economic landscape will have shifted considerably in favour of our Eastern competitors.

Essentially, the problem is this: The West was once a manufacturing powerhouse, but manufacturing capability has shifted to the Far East (Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Korea, Thailand, China et al), where labour rates and hence production costs are much, much lower. Initially, it was just simple manufacturing tasks that were outsourced, and the West moved to more hi-tech manufacturing jobs. Over time however, the complexity of the manufacturing tasks being sent to the Far East (for reasons of cost) has increased - to the point where the majority of the world’s high-tech equipment is now built in the Far East.

So the West has had its manufacturing jobs taken from it – including most of the high-tech ones. That was inevitable. No matter, say our business and government leaders, “We’re still ahead in ‘innovation’, and we’re going to make sure it stays that way.” What they basically mean is that it doesn’t matter that we’ve lost the repetitive, low-skilled jobs because we’re going to keep and develop the jobs that need brains – design, analysis, innovation, finance. The so-called ‘knowledge economy’. The West is basing its whole economic future on the futile hope that we’ll stay smarter than the other guys.

I’m not the only one who sees a problem with this approach. In his latest book, entitled ‘The World is Flat’, Thomas L. Friedman quotes Bill Gates as saying, "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm travelling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow. In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations. . . . The percentage of a population with a college degree is important, but so are sheer numbers. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind." You could easily add the UK in to that statement. Which pretty much sums up the whole problem – we’re not going to be staying smarter than the other guys for very long.

Friedman himself goes on to say something similar to what I said in a previous post (only he puts it far more eloquently), “It is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real time with more people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than at any previous time in the history of the world… When the world is flat, you can innovate without having to emigrate”.

So much for keeping ahead through innovation.

Possibilities

2005-12-17T16:40:00.000Z

After the question I posed last night, I feel like I should probably expand on what I feel some of the possibilities are for where technology could take us over the next 15 years.

First of all, a quick recap of the ground we've covered over the last 15 years. 15 years ago, net access was painfully slow, and only for the most die-hard geeks. Today it is commonplace - and not just in laboratories and offices, but in the home and even out in the street. In 15 years we've transitioned from video and audio cassettes to optical media such as CD and DVD, and now we’re moving to streaming/downloading our content from vast libraries, as and when we please. I now carry a device in my pocket that is more powerful than the first desktop PC my dad bought us just 10 years ago. Not only that, it also combines a mobile phone, a digital still/video camera, an mp3 music player, a digital video player and an organiser – devices that didn’t even exist 10 years ago! And that’s just on the personal tech side; completely ignoring the manufacturing, construction, medical, industrial automotive and aeronautical fields (etc!).

Looking forward 5 years from now, it’s likely we’ll carry foldable, flexible screens that are small in our pockets, but can be rolled out to form larger screens ideal for
browsing information and viewing video content. 10 years from now I imagine that our complex, piecemeal home entertainment setups of today will have evolved in to a system whereby we have a central server that captures and stores all the content we could ever want. We then watch or listen to this content through a series of wirelessly connected displays and speakers in various rooms in the house.

Predicting how technology will have transformed our lives 15 years from now is nigh-on impossible. But I think we can pick out certain trends. For instance, I don’t believe that technology is yet 100% seamlessly integrated in to our daily lives. We still have our big, bulky, computers tethered to a single point in the house. Even laptops aren’t really all that portable. 15 years from now, I thin we’ll each carry our own, personal devices that simply serve as displays – all the content and processing we require is carried out remotely, over the internet. And of course, access to the internet will be as easily available as the air we breathe.

These are just a few ideas I have about how technology will shape our future. I could go on forever – but then I’d only prove myself wrong. The future’s unpredictable that way.

Think on this

2005-12-17T04:06:00.000Z

15 years ago we'd never have imagined that we could make a phone call from the train to let our family know we'll be there in 5 minutes and they should pick us up.

What will be normal 15 years from now?

Ingenuity all around you

2005-12-15T23:37:00.000Z

One of the things engineers feel quite strongly about, and are forever trying to address, is that the general public – particularly in the UK – simply do not appreciate the awesomeness of the things they achieve. Engineering is heavily underrated both in terms of its achievements and as a career, yet without engineering we would not have the incredibly advanced societies we live in today.

A phenomenal (excuse my generous use of superlatives!) example of this is the incredible Heathrow Terminal 5, which is currently under construction. It is engineering on a massive scale, much more complex than a simple new building. Here are some key facts for you to ponder:

4 miles (6km) of roads
8.5 miles of undergrounds tunnels
11 miles of conveyor belts to move bags!
60,000 workers involved in the project
400m-long terminal building
175 lifts
131 escalators
260 hectare site (larger than Hyde Park)
40% of the building is underground
30 million passengers a year

(Info taken from Professional Engineer magazine)

And all this is being built while two of the busiest runways in the world operate as normal 24/7 on either side of the construction site . It’s utterly mind-boggling.

I’ve always believed that the reason the public doesn’t hold engineering in as high regard as other professions such as medicine or law is that the fine details of what goes in to making things work, the complexity of what we do as engineers, is beyond their life experience. They expect things to just work, and when they don’t, they get someone in to fix them. Gnerally people aren't too interested in how things happen.

I amtruly blown away by those statistics on the Heathrow T5 project. Let’s hope that when the building opens in 2008, at least some of the passengers will stop to appreciate and marvel at the incredible work of many fine engineers.

Wired on Work

2005-12-15T00:20:00.000Z

I’ve been feeling particularly wired these last few days. As ever, I’ve left assignments and stuff later than I should have, and am now finding it hard to think about absolutely anything else – despite the fact that there are some pretty big things going on in my life right now. Systems Engineering and Spaceflight Mechanics and Group Project rule my mind and my thoughts.

Despite that fact, I did manage to get out to play football tonight. Probably should have stayed in to get work done, but a week doesn’t feel complete without my game of football on a Wednesday night. Plus, it was nice not to be thinking about uni for an hour or so.

Dean’s certificates were handed out at uni today. They’re awarded to all students who achieved an average of over 70% in the previous year. Only, the email that went out telling people they’d been awarded a certificate and that they should go to collect them went out to the whole of mechanical engineering, not just those who had actually achieved the grades. The poor wee dears in the mech eng office were terribly flustered by the huge line of students who went up demanding a certificate, when there were none to be found.

I find the idea of these wee women getting all confused and harried, without a clue what’s going on, rather entertaining. Oh, the things that amuse you when you’re wired on work.

Roll on May 2006 - unfortunately, there’s not a hope in Hell of getting any sort of break before then.

On the other hand...

2005-12-13T23:58:00.000Z

Yesterday, I had a (very restrained) moan at the fact that degrees are becoming increasingly less valuable. Today I'm going to offer a slightly more acidic opinion on my fellow students.

Let me begin by saying that this rant includes sweeping generalisations, and that I'm very aware that not ALL students are like this. However, in my experience, the vast majority are.

Students frequently complain about student debt, blah blah blah. Well in my opinion, the answer's simple - drink less alcohol! Don't take a cab home! Buy fewer DVD's! OK, so that is pretty harsh - we all need to have fun, blow off steam or whatever. But I just don't understand how students afford the lifestyle many of them choose to enjoy. A little restraint would, I feel, go a long way to allaying many peoples' debt fears. A sweeping generalisation, I know, but one that I feel quite strongly about. You've brought yourself here to better yourself and improve your future - not just to be comatose for three or four years.

Secondly, we're all so lazy (well, most of us!). I include myself in this. I could have gained more value out of my time at uni if I'd applied my self more to the academics and studied harder. As it is, I feel I've worked pretty hard to achieve the grades I do. But I know I could have worked harder and done better - I'm not naturally smart, so hard work is the only way I can do well. A lot of students, however, do the bare minimum to get through university. And it’s really noticeable when you go abroad and witness the far more focussed and driven work ethic of our peers who pay considerably more for the privilege of higher education than we do. Sometimes I think that’s the problem – we take our educations for granted, not realising how fortunate we are to be given such a wonderful opportunity to better our own lives.

This, in my opinion, is unacceptable. University presents us with so many unique opportunities that it really is a crime to not take at least some of them up. Clubs, societies, international exchanges, academics, work experience, student governance – there’s a wealth of opportunities. And when you know you’re facing a tough job market and stiff competition at the end of it all, then you’ve only yourself to blame when it comes to job hunting time and you can’t find anything.

There are thousands of jobs out there, and they rightly go to those who’ve made that extra effort above and beyond their degrees. Why should it go to a lazy git who’s not bothered to take the initiative, get involved with something and show what he or she can do? They’ve wasted the taxpayer’s money – our money. Bah!

What's in a degree?

2005-12-13T01:20:00.000Z

It’s week twelve of semester one – the last week of term. If there’s one thing all students agree on, it’s that the semesters always fly by, and seem to pass faster every year.

Looking back, I can’t believe that it’s been over 4 years since I started my course. More frightening still is the thought I’ll be graduating next year. Student life has its tough moments, but I wouldn’t swap it for the world. It’s hit me with so many fantastic moments, so many opportunities, and, most importantly, it’s up to me if and when I get out of bed in the morning. So much freedom – when else in my life will I get 5 months off at summer?!

The problem, however, is that degrees no longer have the value they once did. A degree no longer guarantees you a job; it merely grants you a licence to hunt, along with thousands of others eager graduates. Nowadays, you have to do some much more over and above your degree to prove that you’re better than the next guy, and in my opinion that’s a real shame.

Work experience, voluntary work, curing cancer, helping sick children, solving world hunger – top employers expect graduates to be superhuman. They no longer trust the education we have received, so hit us with their own numerical, verbal and aptitude tests. The problem with encouraging so many more people in to higher education is that, by definition, standards drop as a result.

I’m proud of my degree – I feel I’ve really worked hard for it. But, apparently, 5 years of higher education is no guarantee that I can do the job. Better get on with that solution to global warming I’ve been working on between classes, eh?

Inspirations

2005-12-12T01:23:00.000Z

I kinda realised last night that my posts so far have been leaning towards the ‘heavy’ side. So tonight I’ll try to lighten up a bit. I also don’t want to run out of material less than a week in to my new venture.

I mentioned in my first post that there are a few blogs I read daily, and that these inspired me to start my own.

Call me calaban! is written by Robin, a good friend I made while in Toronto. She has Scottish roots, and her blog allows me to keep up with what’s going on in her world without disrupting her ‘hectic’ schedule. It’s the first blog I ever followed on a regular basis.

Rolled up Trousers (don’t ask!) is written by Osama Saeed, a bit of a political activist and a long-time friend of mine. I hold him in high regard, but don’t tell him that. Mainly covers areas of relevance to British Muslims and the ‘war on terror’.

The Dilbert Blog is written by Scott Adams, author of the ridiculously successful Dilbert cartoon strip. I get the comic emailed to me daily, and the blog is just as funny. A bit surreal at times, but normally very entertaining.

Also, since setting this thing up I’ve become a bit obsessive-compulsive about tracking the stats on ‘hits’/visits to the site. It’s a bit sad, really. But I do know that I’m getting a reasonable number of visitors, which is great. Please please please do give me feedback on what you think so far. Feel free to leave comments, or email me at atifdotrashidatntlworlddotcom, replacing words with punctuation as necessary. Even just to let me know you’re reading. Thank you!

I'm a bad person

2005-12-11T00:43:00.000Z

Space Cadets is currently airing on Channel 4, which I find interesting. Not because I’m interested in the show, but because I’m interested in space, and have been lucky enough to study it on several occasions. I’ve done a design project for a lunar sample acquisition robot, my thesis was on optical imaging techniques to improve on-board landing site selection, and I’m currently taking a class in spaceflight mechanics. Unfortunately, it turns out that the only reason I’m actually in to the show is because it makes me feel smug and smart.

I have real disdain – well it’s more like hatred, actually – for most reality shows (with the important exceptions of The Apprentice and Dragons' Den, which are both awesome). I truly believe that its TV for the lowest common-denominator, and look down on anybody who watches them, let alone actually enjoys them, as incredibly stupid. I feel that I’m vastly superior to the people on the shows, and to the majority of those who follow their inane goings on. For the most part, I reckon that’s justified

In this case, I have an understanding of space engineering, and therefore feel like I’m on the ‘inside’ and know what’s really going on. I find it reassuring that other people are amazed at stuff that I find second nature. People think that space stuff is all so complicated and clever and mysterious, and it makes me feel good about myself that I can do some of this 'amazing' stuff.

It’s at times like this that I wish I was a better person. I’m becoming a snob, and the worst part is that I’m not even actually that smart. I just like to feel like I am.

"I don't like your Muslim"

2005-12-10T00:14:00.000Z

Today a friend of mine, with whom I worked last summer (well, I worked, he mainly sat surfing the NME website), MSN'd me. Matthew, who lives in London, said he got in a cab the other day, and the cabbie decided to strike up the conversation by starting out with "I don't like your Muslim", which is apparently cabbie speak for “I don’t like Muslims”.

Now, I have no particular problem with people not liking Muslims (I can’t say I have a particular fondness for Cockney cabbies), but what does bother me is that people who hold such views would generally never say such a thing in front of an actual Muslim. Generally, such comments are reserved for conversations between people of the same skin colour/religion/whatever.

I’d really love to know what it is about people like me that he doesn’t like. I want to ask him. It might help me understand a little better why the BNP are apparently doing so well (despite the fact they are an openly racist party). I do, however, find it completely reassuring that views like his are, in my experience at least, in the minority, and for the most part are on their way out. But, because I never get in on such conversations between ‘white people’, I’m never quite sure exactly how much of a minority guys like this really represent.

The cabbie left Matthew speechless, so Matthew left the cabbie tipless. I wonder if the cabbie clocked?

This just in...

2005-12-09T00:12:00.000Z

Just discovered that BBC News Online are spending a day in a mosque & community centre in London this Friday, with a laptop set up so that people can send in questions to the staff and congregation throughout the day and have them answered live.

This should be quite interesting - for both the questions that are sent in, and to see the kinds of answers we get back. I don't know much about this particular mosque, but it's fantastic that opportunities like this exist for people to learn more about one of the most misunderstood forces in the world today.

Should make for interesting reading between classes tomorrow.

We live in the future

2005-12-08T21:23:00.000Z

Sometimes I decide that this world, right here, right now, is the future. Let me explain.

We live in a world where we can connect instantly with anyone, anywhere in the world. Letter, phone, video, even in person. Every day I carry in my pocket a device that lets me reach and be reached, anywhere at any time. It shows me entire movies and lets me record my own , plays me my music, keeps my schedule and to do list, stores all my contacts. Reminds me of birthdays. This tiny device can put the internet – the world – in the palm of my hand. I’m always connected, always on. It can even make phone calls.

Social networks – similar to blogs, but geared towards groups of friends and general frivolity, are an integral part of many young peoples’ lives. Kids keep in touch by face, by phone, and now online. What’s interesting is how you can follow links within and between groups of friends. You find out what they were up to on Friday night, that someone was out of town, that someone was ill. Follow the links and you get an insight in to peoples’ lives – never mind the fact that they live thousands of miles away and that you even don’t know them. Now you do.

The world has become a global, personal marketplace – albeit dominated by one corporation. Global trading is no longer reserved for international business – anyone, anywhere can set up and trade online within minutes - whether they’re genuine or not.

The world has indeed become a very, very small place. We live in the future.

Or do we? What about the poor, the patronisingly entitled ‘third world’? The very technologies that will help them most are priced far out of their reach. Technology might be advancing at a rapid rate, but the vast majority of our fellow humans are being left behind. In our haste to reach the future, we’re leaving them in the past.

Mad, mad world

2005-12-08T00:41:00.000Z

This is probably going to be a recurring theme. I'm one of those people who constantly marvels at the world - whether it's the latest developments in science and technology, or current affairs, or human stories. It’s the reason I’m studying engineering.

A man was shot dead today by US air marshals in Miami, Florida. He had suggested to some sort of 'officials' that he was carrying a bomb in his on board baggage, was asked to leave the plane, left then apparently acted aggressively, reached towards his backpack and then was shot. It's not clear exactly what happened yet. What is clear, however, is that he was not carrying any explosives. Apparently, the man was mentally ill.

5 years ago, this sort of thing was unheard of. But now there's a major news story breaking every couple of weeks or so. It started with 9/11, then the war in Afghanistan, and Iraq, the earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, shootings, bombings, threats, diseases, deaths. The rate of change in our world is accelerating. It’s a pretty scary time to be alive.

Hola!

2005-12-07T19:10:00.000Z

Hi!

So. This is my blog. I guess a reason for its existence is as good a place to start as any.

I was lying in bed last night, thinking about how I tend to waste so much time on the internet, and why that is. I decided that one of the reasons is that every time I sit down at my computer, there are a number of websites that I HAVE to check out before I can get started with anything else.

It used to be these sites were either forums, news, sport or technology sites. The whole world of blogging never really impacted me - I didn't know many people who had one, nor had I found any that I wanted to read on a regular basis.

But over the past few months that's all changed, and there are now several blogs in my daily 'must visit' list - all which are on my much-loved customised Google homepage/RSS reader. At the same time as my interest in blogs has been increasing, my MSN names have been becoming increasingly 'political'/expressive. So this is a perfect way to combine the two.

Lastly (notice how I'm sticking to my tradition of writing too much!), I've always quite admired the idea of keeping a diary - even though I've never done it. Putting thoughts down on paper - or on screen - is a great way of clarifying one's own thoughts, and I'm hoping this blog will help me achieve inner peace. Kinda.

Content-wise, who knows? Maybe I'll update it regularly, maybe it'll die out in a few days or weeks or months. We'll see how it goes. I might be talking about computer games or Uni or politics or my day or whatever. In a way, this is more about me than my readers. I'm selfish like that.