An Innocent Man

My brother in law has gone through hell over the last 7 months, since December 2005. He's a taxidriver in Blackpool and was accused by a female passenger of touching her legs and breasts in the course of a 3 minute drive (while going round a curvy route- and with his right hand!). This happened just before Christmas and he lost nearly two weeks of work at a busy time of year. And he has had this hanging over him since then with possible loss of freedom, job (self employed), and house. He's married with a 9 year old daughter and no criminal record.

The woman was heavily intoxicated- her friends had to hold her up to get her in the car. She described my brother in law as 25-30 with brown hair. He's 40 with grey hair! She said in her statement that her boyfriend (at the destination) was waiting with door open when she arrived and witnessed her breasts being fondled. Her boyfriend said that he was in the back of the house and the first he knew she was back was when she put her key in the lock.

Result- 12 Jurors took 20 minutes to all decide Not Guilty. Why on earth did this come to court in the first place? Are the Crown Prosecution Service on some politically correct, 'Try them in court no matter what the evidence' waste the taxpayer's money kick? The Judge said it shouldn't have come to court. But at least it was a fair result.

No2ID in Walthamstow

Last night Walthamstow Council voted 31 to 22 in favour of becoming affiliated with Mo2ID. The against votes were purely along party lines- Tories and Lib-Dems in favour of affiliation, Labour against.

As the Leyton rep (we're a very small group) I went along to snap snaps, hand out badges and leaflets etc. Plus I met and chatted with one or two councillors and watched Democracy in Action. Phew, pontificating and political! I'd never appreciated how much the major parties have on local Govt. But it was interesting to see all of the maneuvering and discussions. Not exactly my idea of a fun time though!

Microsoft Update - A Spy in every PC!

My job dictates that I have to use Windows, and I also use a properly licensed copy at home. Nevertheless I think Microsdoft is getting increasingly over reaching with the information they suck out of your PC. I read the EULA for the latest Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA- We Get it ALL?) update and section 6 says this.

"6. Computer Information. This supplement uses Internet protocols to send to Microsoft computer information, such as your Windows XP product key, hard drive serial number, PC manufacturer, operating system version, Windows XP product ID, PC BIOS information, user locale setting, language version of Windows XP, validation result and whether the installation of this supplement was successful. Certain information derived from your IP address, which cannot be used to identify you, is retained in association with this computer information. "

Now I really object to some of this one several grounds.

• Hard drive Number
- What business is it of Microsoft to know this?

• PC Bios Information?
Why do they need this?

• PC Manufacturer
- That's commercially sensitive information!

I do wonder if they read the CPUID or network card MAC Address.
They also say in section 7. We may also share the aggregate data with others, such as hardware and software vendors and volume licensees to help protect their license keys. WTF? Since when is it Microsoft's job to police on behalf of licensees? Do they police GPL? I bet not!

As a developer I appreciate Microsoft when they do things like provide the free Express Editions of compilers. But this stuff just builds up resentment. So I have declined the update. We'll see what happens. I encourage you to decline the update as well. If enough people do it, Microsoft will start noticing.

Another thought. Some of the information they collect is commercially useful. If you want it, you buy it from me. Savvy?

Another Game Article Posted

Casus Belli was an old Play By Mail (PBM) game I wrote in 1986. It had 1,500 players at game launch (1986) thanks to a feature in Computer & Video Games magazine. I designed Warlord at KJC Games in 1989 and that was basically Casus Belli Mk II. It is still run now. (Older than the Web!)

I always wanted to program it as a desktop game and then maybe on mobile, and the web (Flash) so to start the ball rolling, I've been writing it up on my website. The Delphi version will be given away, warts and all to open source. The C++ and C# versions will appear on the Cplus.About.com website when I have finished preparing it. (I've been accepted as the new guide!)

You can see the first three articles on the new Casus Belli at the bottom of this page on my website. Have fun.

Summer in London

As the weather was unseasonally warm and windy I took a trip to Fulham Broadway to check out the latest PSP games and Border's Bookshop where I bought a book. (Perhaps I should change my name to Pooter...)

The photo is the view from the platform for trains to Wimbledon. Lurking in the distance is the Empress State Building which possesses a rotating disc section on the top floor. Tables and chairs on the disc section slowly rotate. Mind you, that bit is closed unless booked for filming. I'm sure I saw an episode of Spooks there and the front of the building featured in that fine epic of film making Fat Slags. If you want to see the building on Google Maps enter the post code SW6 1TR. Here is a photo I took looking North from the building on a not quite so sunny day.

Fairtrade Chocolate and Comic Relief

I succumbed to temptation today. I can resist everything but... in the shapely form of a Dubble bar It was dubble or nothing...

Why oh why do they put the "Nutritional values" per 100g of chocolate and not the bar. It's 529C per 100g (and not the bar)? That's 212 C for the bar if you're wondering. As only 20% of the world is supposed to feel comfortable with maths, its a bit of a no brainer to add this. In fact if you look closely at the bottom line it's there but not brilliantly laid out. Sack that wrapper graphic artist- he could easily have added another column.

Oh..You're not interested in my rant and wonder what the bar tastes like? Very nice. I prefer the Divine bars they sell though... Nuts are ok but pure chocolate is soo nice.

There's a Comic Relief sticker on the wrapper so presumably all the bars have laxative in them..Oh...maybe not!

Google Search Curiosity

SeoLogs.com Multiple Data Centre Rank tool is excellent and I use it now and then to see how well or badly I'm doing. I'm only an amateur seologist (and nothing to do with the company of that name) but have achieved minor successes with David Bolton and Mensa Blog.

Now the big project, Home Parking is underway and for a site that hasn't launched yet has achieved a Google Page rank of 4. But interestingly, if I run it on the SeoLog.com rank checker for the phrase Home Parking there are just two results. Number 1 (Good!) in 12 data centres or not in the top 100 on the rest! (Perhaps not so good... ). Curious!

I'd always assumed that the results were spread evenly. The Mensa blog search for instance is 3 on every data centre.

July 7th in London

It's not much comfort if you are one of the dead or disabled in a terrorist attack but the odds on it happening to you are so remote, compared to being run over or involved in a car crash that it is just not worth worrying about.

I was affected last year on this date inasmuch as I travel on the tube to work and had to walk 9 miles across London to get home- a great way to see London! And the day after I was back on the tube, and it was a lot quieter than usual.

Why so unaffected by terrorism? From the age of 10 until 27 I lived in Northern Ireland- right through the "troubles", just ten miles outside Belfast in Carrickfergus. In the 70s we could hear the Belfast bomb explosions in Carrickfergus. And I spent three years at Queen's University in Belfast, living in the Halls of Residence on Malone road. A lovely city- with an innovative approach to urban regeneration. A policy implemented in part by the Innercity Regeneration Association or IRA for short...

Marks and Spender

Its a curious fact that a search on the Google Adwords tool for the word charity reveals that the current top selling related phrase is Marks and Spender at £27.07 per click. I think whoever puts in their google adwords got it wrong! They have over 200 Adword phrases ranging from 4p/click to over £25. Thats an advertising budget!

Here are the top PPC M & S Keywords.

marks and spencer wedding insurance £25.42
marks and spencer co uk £24.43
marks ans spencer £22.42 <- <- More misspelling again!
marks and spencer com £21.70
www marks and spencer co uk £20.84
marks and spencer clothes £19.52
marks and spencer on line shopping £19.08
marks and spencer uk £17.73
marks and spencer online shopping £17.22
marks and spencer flowers £16.94
marks and spencer shoes £16.30
www marks and spencer £14.87

Of course I prefer the spoonerism of Sparks and Mensa... but then I would!

I blame the Web

For the way life seems to be getting faster. There seems to be new versions of software coming out more often - e.g. Flash 9 is upon us. I'm learning the new stuff in C# 2005 as well as a certain Document Managememt System but more about that (I hope!) in the future.

Or it could be that I'm getting older - so maybe my brain is slowing down and consequently time appears to pass by quicker. Something that Einstein never postulated- Bolton's Corrollorary to the Special Theory- the age of the Observer affects the perceived velocity of light/time etc.