Sir Arthur at 90 (repost from other blog)

I'm occasionally asked why I write science fiction.

The answer is, because of this man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qLdeEjdbWE



Happy birthday Sir Arthur!

Covering all bases: trying out Linux - part 1 (repost from other blog)

How can I possibly hold my head up as a certified computer nerd without knowledge of the third most popular computer operating system (and incidentally the one that runs most of the internet)?

I've had goes with Linux before, but each time it was a half-hearted affair, and by no means entirely successful. Nevertheless, I decided it was time to give Linux a fair trial, and by 'fair' I'm referring to the the fact that my previous attempts were on redundant hardware that wasn't up to the job.

In recent years the computer marketplace has changed. It's now possible to buy a basic PC, without monitor or OS, for under £250. But 'basic' is a relative term. This £250 PC has a 64-bit dual-core processor, 2 GB of system RAM and a 250 GB serial ATA hard disk - computing power that would have cost between five and ten times as much a mere five years ago.

So, I bought one. I already had a suitable monitor (a 19" widescreen LCD), and I'd downloaded the operating system in readiness for the 'experiment'.

And the OS? The word is, apparently, 'Ubuntu'. You can go to the website and download a CD image file, which you then use to make a boot CD. There are comprehensive instructions on the site if you don't know how to do this - it's not difficult (and if you use a Mac it is ridiculously easy). You can then use the CD to try out Ubuntu Linux on any PC (or even an Intel Mac, apparently) without messing with your hard drive. Then, if you wish, you can install it. That's when the fun starts.

The process worked well enough. I had to be careful adjusting the display settings (several of my attempts resulted in the disappearance of the mouse cursor), but I found that ignoring the 'test' mode and rebooting worked fine. Next on the list was connecting to the internet. Firefox is pre-installed, but because of the way my home network is set up I had to adjust the network settings to a static IP address and enter DNS addresses to make it work.

I gave up on the printer. I've no doubt that connecting a USB or parallel printer would be a doddle, but I have a print-server on my network that was extremely difficult to set up for my Macs, so I wasn't surprised to find the Linux set-up a little opaque. That's something I'll need to come back to.

Ubuntu Linux also comes with OpenOffice 2.3 pre-installed, though I did notice that it wouldn't read some of my ancient StarWriter documents, despite the fact that my PC version of OpenOffice (version 2.0) has no trouble with them. It's probably a simple matter of installing the correct filters.

One important thing I discovered, pretty much by chance, is that Ubuntu Linux does not, by default, check for updates. There are preferences you have to change to allow it to update itself - once I did this, it downloaded and installed about 40 updates.

One last gem I'll mention in this initial part of the saga - I needed to copy a DVD (home produced - not copy-protected). I put the disc in the drive, and found that if I right-clicked on the desktop icon there was an option to copy the disc. This was a breeze - it made an image, then prompted for a blank disc, and burnt the copy. This will definitely be my preferred method for making DVD copies in the future. No third-party software required - not even any need to launch another app.

So far, I'm impressed.

Heated debate: global warming - does it matter?

Probably no controversial subject involves more vested interest than that of global climate change. I've seen the (subsequently discredited) Channel 4 TV programme "The Great Global Warming Swindle" and I also have in my ever-increasing 'to read' pile the special issue of Skeptical Inquirer on global warming, as well as the issue of New Scientist covering the subject.

Then I read Stephen Fry's blog entry on the subject (impressing me enough to send a link to Josh Timonen at RichardDawkins.net). Stephen Fry's approach is of one who does not have the facts, but nevertheless is prepared to act on probabilities. His reference to Pascal's Wager was particularly neat. And one of the commenters, milkyman, posted a link to a video, which I embed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ

There's also a follow-up video (plus related videos on other aspects of the controversy):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_anaVcCXg

How long before Richard Dawkins appears in Hell?

Last Wednesday's episode of Old Harry's Game on BBC Radio 4 almost features Professor Richard Dawkins as a character - but he's there in spirit, as it were.

The episode (number 3 of 6) is currently available on the BBC's 'listen again' service:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/shows/rpms/radio4/old_harrys_game.ram

Info for this episode is here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/oldharrysgame/pip/xg5aa

Here's a 5-minute (mp3) clip of the relevant section (the link takes you to RapidShare, from where you can download the file):

http://rapidshare.com/files/341866773/Old_Harry_s_Game__excerpt_.mp3

(Edith is in Hell after being murdered by person or persons unknown. She's struck a deal with Satan - she will write his biography in return for him finding out who murdered her. As the clip begins, she's doing a bit of background research.)

Baptist minister converts to Judaism, says "Thank God for atheists"

Chris Miller's "Unquiet Desperation" is an occasional podcast on eclectic subjects. Recently he aired an interview with an old friend of his, Bill Carter, who converted from Southern Baptist to Judaism. In Chris's words:

• There are endless tales out there about folks who have converted to Christianity from some other religion, but you rarely hear about someone converting away from Christianity, unless it’s to atheism. In this episode of Unquiet Desperation, we meet Bill Carter, and old friend who has, after much thought and soul searching, converted from Christianity to Judaism. He tells us about his thought process, his reasons for doing so, and how his life has changed because of his conversion.

In the last five minutes of this 80 minute interview Bill Carter makes an odd comment, "Thank God for atheists," using a strangely incongruous example of giving help to a homeless street-person. It's almost a direct inverse of the "atheists have no basis for morality" argument.

Unquiet Desperation:
http://unquietdesperation.com/

Audio here (83'42", 76.6 MB).

What is it with spammers? (repost from other blog)

Am I missing something here?

I get lots of spam. Most of it is efficiently filtered out by Gmail, but nonetheless I do check it regularly, just in case some false positives get caught.

But I'm at a loss to understand what the spammers are hoping to achieve. They appear to go to great lengths to defeat my spam filters. Why? Do they think I'll reward their ingenuity by buying stuff I don't need? Don't they realise why I have spam filters? Because I don't want their stuff!

Here's my advice. I offer it free, gratis, and for nothing.

Make your subject header actually relevant to the content of your email. Don't use obfuscation in the body of the email (such as peculiar graphics, or unconventional spelling). Use an honest email address.

This way I can easily trash your email if it's not relevant to me, my wants or needs. But it also makes it easy for me to identify if I may actually desire to do business with you - because your email will not have been consigned to my junk folder.

You never know - you might actually get more business this way.

Denial in action: "Acupuncture works"

A recent report (see Bad Science for full details) shows that acupuncture is no more effective than a placebo. This, however, didn't prevent a representative of 'complementary' medicine claiming that the report showed that acupuncture 'works'.

Nothing much unusual here, you might suppose. But David Tredinnick made his claims in the face of the placebo evidence, on BBC radio. Ben Goldacre related the facts of the case to Eddie Mair, on the BBC's PM programme, and David Tredinnick completely ignored the central point of the report - that acupuncture is a load of hooey.

Audio of the PM programme here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/pm_tue
Clip starts at about 37 minutes. (This link will probably expire by next Tuesday.)

Download RealPlayer here

Edit: Ben Goldacre's Bad Science podcast now has the clip available for download (also includes some of the mail responses to the broadcast):
http://badscience.net/files/whydoctorsdonttalktothemedia.mp3