Bubble in the desert

Obama's Speech - Cairo - Awesome

2009-06-07T12:26:00.002+01:00

Hard to believe floating duck islands have overshadowed this speech from Obama this week. I think I will get a picture of Obama for my wall and perhaps a print of this speech to go with it.

G20 Policing - undercover police placed to incite the crowd

2009-05-19T22:44:00.002+01:00

I read about this over the weekend and was really shocked. I hope we get to the bottom of whether the Met placed undercover Police within the crowd to incite them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/10/g20-policing-agent-provacateur

"An MP who was involved in last month's G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds."

Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards.

Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon.

Brake, a member of the influential home affairs select committee, will raise the allegations when he gives evidence before parliament's joint committee on human rights on Tuesday.

"When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, 'There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'" Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification."

I look forward to waiting to that one to unfold.

Vote Lib Dem!

2009-05-19T22:39:00.002+01:00

This is a new thing for me but perhaps it is time for me to join with a lot of the rest of Cambridge and vote Lib Dem.

I really like my local MP. He bothered to meet me to discuss our Allotment Petition and offered us lots of ideas. He encouraged us to have a council hearing following a sufficiently large petition (a scheme he pioneered). After reading it he even signed it. David Howarth is a good bloke.

He is also an MP living outside London who does not claim a second home but prefers to commute by train.

A good bloke, an active politician who is not a crook. He's got my vote.

David MacKay on R4

2009-04-30T01:24:00.002+01:00

Simon told me he'd heard David MacKay on R4 (about 1m30 in)

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jvdhb/b00jvctc/More_or_Less_24_04_2009/

David is very clear as usual. The fluffy individual from the sustainable energy commission on the other hand, does rather seem to have her head shoved firmly up her arse (but judge for yourself!).

Mr Monbiot on the Police...'Printing Police Lies'

2009-04-21T18:38:00.000+01:00

Printing Police Lies

A good read.

BBC on Police Kettling Tactic

2009-04-19T12:14:00.001+01:00

Writer and director Zia Trench thought she might visit the G20 demonstration in the City of London earlier this month.
"I wasn't sure if I wanted to protest, but I thought I'd check out the demonstration, and show my face for half an hour," she said.
"As I walked out of Cannon Street Tube I literally found myself facing a line of police. When I asked if I could get through, the police refused. They then moved me down the street towards the Bank of England."
There, Ms Trench joined a growing group of protesters corralled within a circle of police in the square in front of the Bank.
Held by the police within the circle for up to seven hours, the protesters found themselves trapped.

BBC on Police Kettling Tactic - is this how we want our Police to behave?

More on the G20 protest from the BBC

2009-04-19T12:08:00.001+01:00

This speaks for itself.

Interesting article about the IPCC too...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8006622.stm

More on the G20 protest and police action

2009-04-18T09:56:00.002+01:00

On thing to keep in mind when you watch these videos is that the Police have 'kettled in' or ring-fenced the protesters (and some people from the general public) such that they could not leave. It is hardly surprising that people being held in this way without water for 8 hours might get a bit frustrated.

I find this Police action outrageous.

G20 Protest

2009-04-16T01:42:00.001+01:00

With all eyes on the G20 protesters the media made a lot of very little trouble from the protesters. The idiots who look for trouble when they are protesting really annoy me but for the most part I respect people who show up and defend our right to protest. I'm sorry I wasn't at this protest.

I was disappointed by the near universal condemnation of the protesters and sympathy for the Police from the Radio 4 Any Questions program the following weekend. It seems that everyone believes it is all about the protesters being dangerous or potentially dangerous.

Only now is it beginning to emerge quite how outrageous the Police tactics were that day - see Metropolitan police chief launches inquiry into G20 protest tactics | Politics | The Guardian and the videos linked from there.

I really fail to see how people holding up their hands and chanting, "this is not a riot" are lining themselves up for a beating by Police.

It seems a new law has been passed to make it illegal for us to photograph the Police. Luckily a few have violated this law or we would not know how outrageous their tactics were. Some were even photographed hiding their badges. Is this the sort of Police we want?

A million people protesting in London against the Iraq war were not heard. This has put a lot of people off exercising their right to protest. I'm sure Kettling tactics and Police violence will have put off even more people.

Shall we just hand it over to Gordon and let him do what he likes?

We can sit at home and watch the telly.

Heros: Kevin McCloud (Grand Designs bloke)

2009-04-15T22:02:00.002+01:00

I can't help being impressed with Kevin McCloud and his enthusiasm for the Grand Designs whilst maintaining the ability to speak frankly, "that looks crap"!

What a decent bloke who I'm sure is really in to his subject.

Knock once for yes, twice for no...

2009-04-13T23:28:00.003+01:00

Baby kicking has reached new heights. I spoke to the belly and asked it to knock once for yes and twice for no and got three kicks in return! Ear to belly I could hear a very strong heartbeat and putting my fingers on top you could see them move with the baby heartbeat - I guess she had her back to us.

In the morning the kicking spree was stronger than usual with something pokey near the surface too - a hand or an elbow I expect.

Quite fun!

The routine of singing Spanish songs to the belly at night continues... (poor thing).

The Pope is Ever More Outrageous

2009-03-27T01:54:00.002Z

The Pope on HIV/Aids, ""a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem". He said, "the traditional teaching of the Church has proven to be the only failsafe way to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids".

What utter rubbish. Event the Lancet has attacked his twisting of the data saying he has, "publicly distorted scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue".

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7967173.stm

Any Old Iron Man Website

2009-03-25T02:53:00.002Z

I've built a new website - wanna look?

http://www.anyoldironman.co.uk

- it is to advertise an Iron Man style triathlon we are organising in May for Parkinson's

Excellent Talk: ‘Statistics are either dull or wrong:discuss - Statistics: can we sex them up without dumbing down?’

2009-03-18T00:17:00.005Z

Went to a great talk this evening.

Billed as, "Join the Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk, Professor David Spiegelhalter as he discusses ‘Statistics: can we sex them up without dumbing down’. Bad Science’s Dr Ben Goldacre will then explore ‘Intellectual stunt doubles: learning from other people’s mistakes in statistics’.

David made some excellent presentations on understanding statistics and has some great online resources here...
http://understandinguncertainty.org/node/213

Ben's talk was based on some of his material here...
http://www.badscience.net/

Both talks highlighted some of the absolute rubbish written in the national press about statistical results. There has been a bit of a debate about bacon sandwiches causing bowel cancer. David has a really nice way of showing many different ways to look at these risks. Some ways make good newspaper headlines but are really just bull when it comes down to it.
http://understandinguncertainty.org/node/233

Having recently read 'Reckoning with Risk' I was familiar with natural frequencies but was very impressed that David went a lot further in thinking about how to convey statistics. I chatted to him at the end of the talk about climate change (of course) but he had nothing to offer since the climate models are a bit inconvenient.

Street Chess

2009-03-14T23:56:00.002Z

I've been looking for a street chess set for ages so was pleased to find one when Dave and Heather were in town. It's in Twickernam near the river and York House. Good fun!

The score now stands at 5 games to 5 !

Dave and Heather visit the UK (from the USA)

2009-03-11T23:44:00.000Z

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Created with flickrSLiDR.

Cambridge Boundary Run - Marathon

2009-03-01T22:28:00.003Z

Well the boundary run was no picnic. After about 8 miles I was pretty sore from chaffing in the shorts. At about 11 miles my thighs were quite heavy. By 20 miles I didn't think I would make the last 6. A few wise marathoners told me helpful things like, 'a marathon is a race of 2 halves, the first 20 miles and the last 6' - they were right! Having previously run 50k in the Mojave desert I was surprised by the both chaffing and the overall difficulty of the run.

I ran the whole way with my friend from work, Peter. We ran a bit slower than I would normally run and I wonder if that made the run a bit harder on my legs. I like running with other people though and was very happy to have Peter's company. He claims that this was his second to last ever marathon, since he is in training for the Paris marathon (I don't believe him though).

At the end of the race my legs were pretty sore, particularly the thighs (Adductors and Hip-flexors especially). Although, in the photo you can see blood from the chaffing at the top of my thighs, it was muscular pain in my thighs which was the worst.

It was after this event that I have decided to end my empirical research on the Linebreak compression tights. In the days following the event my legs suffered no problems whatsoever. The night of the event I had a shower and donned the Linebreak compression tights. I cycled about 6 miles that night and then slept in the tights. I awoke without painful legs.

The next night I cycled about 35 miles on a business trip and then wore the tights in bed. The second day after the event is usually the worst but I had no stiffness in my legs and I managed to cycle another 25 miles on my folding bike without major problems (though the head wind was a bit of an arse).

I am forced to conclude that the Linebreak tights work. I don't need further experiments to prove this to myself!

What else I've been doing - campaigning for allotments with Cambridge Transition Towns

2009-02-19T21:39:00.002Z

At the end of last year I spent some time with others in the Cambridge Transition Town food group campaigning for more allotments for Cambridge. We were really fortunate to hook up with Dave Fox, who is pretty much THE allotment person for Cambridge.

We pulled together a petition, got some press coverage and presented it at a council meeting. The Cambridge Transition Towns Past Events page gives a bit more detail.

The council, to their credit, discussed the issue for some time and made a commitment to do something about it. This made all the effort worthwhile.

Growing your own food is one of the most environmentally friendly things you can do (after giving up flying). And the rewards are great - just the taste of home grown food alone makes it all worth it. The fact that 600+ people are on waiting lists for allotments in Cambridge made this issue a no brainer. If people are this desperate to grow their own, the only environmental thing to do is support them. I'm very pleased with the time I put in to this issue and reckon it was well worthwhile. A very effective campaign. Now all we need is some land.

Mind you, I was pleased to hear that the National Trust are releasing some of their land for allotments, even quite locally at Wimpole Hall.

Blog backlog - given up shopping at Tesco

2009-02-18T21:26:00.004Z

In the months I didn't blog recently, one of the things I have done is given up shopping in Tesco. I've popped in for a couple of emergencies but rarely go there (even though there is a massive superstore on my way home).

How do I eat? Well I get my vegetables delivered from Waterland Organics (a local smallholding). This gives me a tasty supply or organic veg and lets me make my own 'ready meals'. I've been surprised at how much this has saved in packaging too - I hardly ever need to put my garbage bin out now.

For supermarket things I always shop at the Co-op, which is quite a different sort of supermarket. They are very ethical and are not just about making money. They have recently banned a number of pesticides on their farms because they are worried about bees (a very valid worry). I try to buy relatively local stuff too - so I don't buy australian wine or californian since french wine is from nearby and tastes pretty good. French wine is often produced on small scale organic farms too!

There is quite a lot to worry about with shopping at Tesco. For one thing they are such a powerful buyer that they have too strong an influence on farmers and fix prices unrealistically low.

Here is a website highlighting some of the issues: http://www.tescopoly.org/.

I'm not saying that Tesco, as a supermarket, is particularly bad. It's more that I believe supermarkets in general are bad. The co-op is different; local shops are different (particularly farmers outlets); so they all get my vote, and my money.

More on the tights - some research

2009-02-18T21:24:00.001Z

My mate Ian sent me a link to some of the best research on these compression tights - http://www.tri247.com/article_4747.html.

An Empirical Investigation into Linebreak Compression Tights for Runners

2009-02-18T01:24:00.003Z

Quite a number of runners I respect have started using Compression tights to aid recovery after running. Even Adam has now bought some compression socks.

Great claims are made in the literature about the performance of such tights during races (6 minutes faster marathon times!) and for recovery. It's hard to objectively assess whether they really work. Often in sport if you are given some technology which is supposed to make you perform better, it is hard to know whether the technology actually makes a difference or whether it is your belief in the technology that makes the difference.

I wonder if I can analyse my own use of the tights to see if I can detect a difference.

One of the early questions I had about the tights was whether I could wear them underneath my work trousers after a lunchtime run. I read somewhere that someone else found this ok. I also found the tights perfectly comfortable and not too warm to wear under my work trousers.

One question I have not been able to work out is whether there is a difference between Linebreak tights (£40 on wiggle) to Skins (usually around £60).

Perhaps I need a scale to express my level of cramp.
1 - barely discernable cramp
5 - pretty stiff on standing up after a run or during
10 - so stiff that legs cannot bend enough to sit down

On to my study...

Case 1. 19 mile run, Sunday 15th February - Tights not worn during run nor recovery

Pace: 8.30-9.30 min/mile pace with breaks
HR: 130 (very low)
During run: Stiff quads from about 13 miles, particularly near tops of legs adductors/hip flexors i think. Front of leg and inside leg.
After run: Quite stiff (score 5 out of 10) but loosened after stretching
Monday: no run
Tuesday: Heavy legged (quads) 6.5 mile run
After run: Very stiff legs an hour after running (score 7 out of 10) - perhaps insufficient water

Summary: Even though I often run 6 - 10 miles, stretching to 19 even at an easy pace has proved a stretch and recovery without tights not great.

Quite fun to run around Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common and to bump into Andrew Marr running too.

Cambridge - A Cycling Demonstration City (have snorkel will cycle)

2009-02-13T01:01:00.005Z

I took this photo of a cycle way in Cambridge today. I don't really mean to criticise since this is a little used route but it looked pretty impressive. I've actually been quite impressed by the flooding of late since it seems to have been planned for. Houses which normally flood are dry and some fields seem to have been deliberately given over to the flood plain, which is a great idea.

Much less impressive for our 'Cycling Demonstration City' has been the lack of any gritting or salt on the cycle paths and footpaths around cambridge. In places there has been 2 or 3 inches of thick encrusted ice over the whole road which is difficult to walk or cycle over. Ironically, the safest way to cycle at the moment is to stick to the bus routes. This is safe because the roads are gritted but doing this puts more cyclists into the main routes used by cars. Like most cyclists, I would rather cycle down back routes which keep me away from the bulk of the traffic so this is not ideal. It's certainly not what you would expect from a Cycling demonstration city

Here's another... Kayak or Bike?

Man walks the Earth and does not speak for 17 years

2008-11-14T00:09:00.002Z

I really enjoy Ted talks and this one is very special... http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/john_francis_walks_the_earth.html.

This guy witnessed a massive oil spill in the San Francisco Bay in the 1970s and was so appalled that he gave up petrol power transport and just walked. He also gave up talking for 17 years. He realised he didn't listen enough and through not speaking he was able to learn more - as well as teach and get a PhD.

Inspirational. Reminded me of the PCT hike and the people I met doing that. There is something about people who walk long distance.

"The Secret" - AWFUL

2008-11-11T21:30:00.002Z

I was very pleased that Maribel had a copy of the DVD entitled "The Secret" and we sat down to watch it on Friday.

The basic premise of "The Secret" is that there exists a "law of attraction" and if you are positive and wish hard enough you attract to yourself whatever you want.

I had hoped this movie would be about the power of being positive and how just being positive can allow great things to happen in your life. It turns out that the film is really not like that.

The film focuses on the power of being positive so you can get stuff. It shows footage of a boy who wants a bike and who really thinks about the bike, draws pictures of it and longs for the bike. One day and old bloke shows up and gives him the bike.

The film advises that if you want a Porsche you need to really think positively about owning the Porsche. You need to extend your arms and imagine yourself driving the car and you will end up getting it.

One example in the film was of someone who wanted millions of $ so he took a $1 bill and wrote $1,000,000 on it and stuck it on the ceiling above his bed and you know what? He had an idea that got him a $1,000,000.

If it is not bad enough that this is mystical clap trap the thing that really gives me the creeps about this film is that it is all about getting stuff, like that is some worthy aim. The film lets you understand that you deserve this stuff.

WHAT CRAP!

As if that is not enough there is an implication in the film that anything that goes wrong in your life is attributable to your lack of positive thought in the past.

WHAT COMPLETE CRAP.

Yes I believe that being positive is important but it's a bit sad if your only motivation in being positive is to get STUFF.

I am deeply disappointed with this film - go watch something else!

Meeting my MP - David Howarth - Regarding Allotment Provision

2008-11-07T14:12:00.002Z

Most people find it funny that I chose to spend Friday night meeting my MP rather than going down the pub like everyone else. I believe that getting local food growing on the agenda is one of the most important things I have done this year and was very pleased to get some great support from David Howarth - who has even signed our allotment petition.

I feel like a kid with trading cards or something since my petition now has 2 heavyweights on it, David Howarth and Tony Juniper, former head of Friends of the Earth.

I am really grateful to Transition Towns and my friends in the Cambridge Transition Towns initiative, to be providing a framework for us to take some of these issues forward. I was really pleased that Colin Clews from the Transition Towns Food Group came along to meet David Howarth with me, and that Dave Fox has put together such comprehensive research regarding the allotment situation in Cambridge.