Status-Q

A very good way to pass an enjoyable few minutes on YouTube is to search for James Randi. Randi, for those who don't know, is a magician, but he's better known as a debunker of the paranormal and pseudoscientific. He's also an amusing speaker... here's a little clip where he explains homeopathy:

And there are lots of other nice examples out there - a TV appearance where he puts a graphologist to the test, for example.

And here he talks about Uri Geller, and the faith healer Peter Popoff:

The J. Randi Educational Foundation has, for several decades now, been offering a prize - now standing at $1M - to anybody who can demonstrate any psychic, supernatural or paranormal ability under proper scientific observation. Here are the details if you want to have a go, and the process is documented in the open on the JREF forums. Even getting past the preliminary test will get you $10,000. So far, none of the hundreds of applicants has got that far.

From RyanAir's FAQ:

DOES RYANAIR CARRY HUMAN REMAINS? Ryanair only carry human remains on the London Stansted-Knock route. To make a reservation you must contact Skytrader in Birmingham on +44 870 4422979.

Somehow I feel there must be an interesting story behind that.

Another one from Dr Seuss:

""Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.""

Martin sent me a link to this quite interesting site - if the world could vote for the US president, whom would you pick?

Now, this is a cute idea, though of course the rest of us won't have to live with the domestic decisions, the tax burden, the healthcare system etc. of whomever gets chosen. And I wish it had been done by somebody inside the country rather than an outsider.

None the less, it's valuable data, so as long as you can say with a clear conscience that you wouldn't mind Americans making suggestions about your next leader, cast your vote!

The mobile phone revolution really is sweeping across Africa.

Story here.

""Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.""

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as 'Dr Seuss'

An asteroid hit earth yesterday. Actually, it mostly broke up as it entered the atmosphere so there was nothing very Hollywoodish about it, but it was notable because it was a decent size - around 2-5m - but more significantly, it was the first earth-impacting rock to have been tracked before it hit us. It was discovered about a day in advance of the impact.

This story, in comparison, was discovered by me about a day after it happened. But no doubt, with a comparable rate of progress, I'll soon be able to bring you news stories before they actually occur.

More info here

One of my first HDR experiments.

I was most honoured to make the acquaintance of Piotr Fuglewicz on my recent trip to Poland. Piotr is a very smart chap, with a long history in IT and particularly in the computational linguistics world. He's also a good dinner companion.

Anyway, today, out of the blue, he sent me a photo:

(click for a larger version)

What's intriguing about this is that I took it, but I had never seen it before. Piotr assembled this panorama from three of my Krakow photos, which I hadn't even taken with the idea they might be stitched together! He used an amazing bit of software called Autopano Pro - you don't even have to give it a hint as to what goes where. Quite superb.

The user interface is complex - the basics are reasonably straightforward but there's then an infinite amount of tweaking you can do - but I can see I'm going to have to find time to play with this. Photoshop CS3 has some good panorama stuff built in, but it looks as if Autopano is to panoramas what Photomatix is to HDR... a dedicated tool which goes just that bit further.

Don't you just love local newspapers? A constant source of amusement, I find. Take, for example, the following introductory paragraphs from an article in the Cambridge Crier under the above title:

Plans to fight climate change and cut the carbon footprint of Cambridge by 89 per cent have been announced.

City councillors say it is time for action and have set out 92 ways to tackle climate change and reduce the risk of increased flooding, water shortages, higher temperatures, high winds and subsidence. The area of severe flood risk in the city from the river Cam is predicted to increase by 2055.

More people could suffer strokes, disease and food poisoning, and there could be more hosepipe bans, more people taking time off work, more damage to crops and harm to the environment.

...

I think this is brilliant in so many ways. Hosepipe bans and people taking time off work? Food poisoning, high winds and subsidence. (Hopefully not connected too directly). No wonder the council's document needs to include 92 measures. The area at risk of severe flooding is expected to increase by some completely unspecified amount over the next 47 years. And the paragraph breaks make it rather unclear just how many of these disasters are the direct result of the document... It reminds me of that great scene in Ghostbusters: Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"? Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff. Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly. Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave! Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Anyway, fortunately, the city council has adopted this plan. That's good. So I'll be less likely to suffer food poisoning in 2055 but, sadly, may not be taking so much time off work. Maybe by then I'll have moved away from the high winds of disease-ridden Cambridge to avoid a stroke. I must go and read The Shipping News again...