Adding my Posts to your Web Site
I have no problem with people putting up my posts on their web sites provided they acknowledge who wrote it all in the first place. I said as much in Electronic Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement.
Recently though, I’ve had a request about putting a link to a series of posts on my pages. It was the Cambridge Busway, of which I write about fairly often, as I think it is a wonderful example of how not to manage a project. It is well over budget on costs, very late on finish time and short on the important small details. That link is given below.
https://anonw.wordpress.com/tag/cambridge-busway/
Click it and you’ll see all my posts on the busway.
So how would you add a link like this to your web site?
- Go to the front page of this blog. Click here to do that!
- Click the tag you want from the tag cloud.
- Capture the URL from your browser and paste it into your web site.
It’s a bit technical, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s like swimming or cycling. You never forget.
Unless of course it’s swimming, which I can’t do!
How Can We Improve Security?
Over the years the security services and the police all over the world have made many basic mistakes which have meant that people have lost their lives. I should also add that there have been lots of cases of domestic violence and child abuse which were not picked up, which also resulted in death. I could also add in things like misdiagnosis in hospitals.
It’s all part of the same problem.
The evidence in many cases is there, but no-one can put it together to find the correct or even deadly link.
So the first thing that must be done to improve security or in the NHS’s case patient diagnosis is to make sure that all computers can talk properly to each other.
As an example of this, the DVLA can check quickly that vehicles are taxed, insured and MOT’ed instantly. The benefit to the general public is that it is now a simple process to retax a vehicle over the Internet. But to the police it is a valuable tool to check whether vehicles are legal. I suspect that the number of untaxed vehicles has also reduced and the tax take has increased. The only downside of this linking of databases is that because of the on-line purchase of road tax, Post Offices are getting less revenue and this doesn’t help their financial situation.
We still are nowhere near getting a decent patients’ record computer system and I’ve also heard stories about how police computer systems are all different and sometimes need the same data to be entered more than once. I hope most of the stories I’ve heard are wrong. But I doubt it!
All my life I’ve been a maverick kicking against complacency and the status quo.
Any organisation handling data should employ people like me. Well not me, as I’m too old and well past my sell-by date.
But I know that some of my software and other similar systems have been used in very sensitive applications to link data together so that police and others can target criminals, problems or epidemics. This type of software is used outside of the computer mainstream and to many so-called computer managers it is a pain. I can understand their point, but they should see that these analysts are on their side. It could be argued that the collapse of several of the banks in recent months was because senior managers knew better and ignored the well-researched facts and opinions of analysts with minds much sharper than their own.
So every organisation should have a group of people, whose job is to analyse and question the data in every way possible. Unfortunately, these type of groups are the first to be got rid of in times of financial restraint. They are always a pain in the arse to so-called managers.
I should put a bit of history in here. Years ago in ICI, I worked in a Computer Techniques section, that had free rein to poke its nose into problems in the Division. It was very successful, but had it not been for the diplomacy of those that ran it, it would have been very unpopular. I was at one time, when I told a chemist that he was barking up the wrong tree. But then he wasn’t using any mathematics for his reactions and I was!
I also believe that we rely too much on conservative techniques. I sometimes think that some of the problems with the banks were caused because too many people looked at them all in the same way, with the same software.
So if the maverick groups are to be effective, they need to be able to purchase software and services, that may not fit the policy of the organisation. They also need to have access to specialist programming resources. I would say that wouldn’t I!
I would also make the watch lists much more publicly available.
Let’s say that you are a check-in clerk for an airline. Someone turns up and there is something you don’t like about them. You should be able to flag the guy quickly with just a single key stroke. Perhaps, you can now, but if you can’t then you should be able to. If the watch list was able to be checked at that moment, then it would help airport security ascertain if the person was just nervous of flying or a bomber.
But the key to better security is that everyone should be on watch for anything suspicious. After all one of the biggest failures in the Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab case, is the fact that his father reported him and no-one did anything about it. We need a system that allows the public to contribute to the data, when they have suspicions.
But our biggest problem is that all of these security services are closed and secretive organisations, so they tend to believe all their own methods, publicity and hype. I am reminded of a friend, who in the 1950s needed to be cleared to work on top-secret radar systems. The fact that he was a member of CND should have precluded this, but the security services never knew, as they never asked him.
Have they got any better?
But what will we get?
Probably a lot more restrictions on our lives.
How to Encourage Binge Drinking
This story from the Telegraph shows how those in charge of the nanny state haven’t a clue.
The “app”, which measures drinks in alcoholic units, has sparked something of a craze among drinkers to get the highest score.
The NHS drinks tracker was launched at the start of December and is designed to help people avoid overindulging.
It works by converting drinks into units to show drinkers when they have gone over the recommended daily limit.
But within days of the tracker being released it was being described on the internet as an “awesome game” and users were boasting about trying to beat their “top score”.
If you produce a drink-o-meter for an iPhone, you could have bet your life that people will attempt to create a record score. Someone should be fired for being stupid. But I doubt they will be.
Bum Hoopla
I put a post about Fighting Talk up around midday today. It mentioned “Bum Hoopla”, although I quite rightly left it to your own imagination as to what the game is!
But it has got the blog a hell of a lot of hits.
There must be a moral there!
Or it could be that lots of people have overactive minds!
Is Gordon Brown Buying Votes?
I received two of these e-mails yesterday.
OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR CIVIL SERVICE, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.Our ref: ATM/13470/IDR
Your ref:…Date: 26/11/2009IMMEDIATE PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
I am The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP,Prime Minister British Government. This letter is to officially inform you that (ATM Card Number 048000101775550) has been accredited with your favor. Your Personal Identification Number is 477.The VISA Card Value is £2,000,000.00(Two Million, Great British Pounds Sterling).
This office will send to you an Visa/ATM CARD that you will use to withdraw your funds in any ATM MACHINE CENTER or Visa card outlet in the world with a maximum of £5000 GBP daily.Further more,You will be required to re-confirm the following information to enable;The Rt Hon David Miliband MP Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office. begin in processing of your VISA CARD.
(1)Full names: (2)Address: (3)Country: (4)Nationality: (5)Phone #: (6)Age:
(7)Occupation: (8) Post CodesForward Reply To: hondavidmiliband@8.am
TAKE NOTICE: That you are warned to stop further communications with any other person(s) or office(s) different from the staff of the State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to avoid hitches in receiving your payment.
Regards,
The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP
Prime Minister
He must be getting desperate if he is resorting to these methdos to get votes. Even Prudence isn’t that desperate and I suspect if you fall for this scam you get everything you deserve!
Crash Course Widow
I’ve just added this blog to the Blogs on Widowhood.
I tried to post a comment on the blog and WordPress and Blogger did their usual non-cooperation.
Are Cars Greener than Buses?
This question is prompted by a post on the BBC Ethical Man’s blog, which asks that question.
The article should be read in full.
But the real problem is that we travel too much.
I’ve worked at home since 1972 and in that time I’ve created two major businesses and several worthwhile (well I think they are) software applications. It doesn’t seemed to have hampered me. So perhaps we need more incentives and technologies like fast broadband to make working at home easier. To get any decent broadband speed, I actually use two phone lines and a special balanced router. But I only get 2Mbs.
Useless!
So would it be better to spend the money on faster broadband for all, rather than transport infrastructure? If for no other reason, it would certainly be popular with a lot of people. I don’t think anybody would object and there would be no need for lengthy and costly public enquiries.
I also live on top of a hill and about three or four kilometres from the nearest pub, post office or shop. I don’t actually cycle to them much, but I should. But most of our large cities are flat and would be very suitable terrain for two wheels. We just need to make sure there are proper cycle paths and adequate places to lock a bicycle.
So perhaps under certain circumstances cars are greener than buses and trains, but in many cases there are better alternatives.
My Views on Abuse Reporting
In the previous post, I said that commercial pressures and the fact that most of the social networking and other companies are outside the jurisdiction of the UK and the EU, will make it very difficult to enforce any proper reporting of abuse.
But we can do something.
Take Sunday morning. I was driving out of Cambridge, when a guy in a very large 4×4 pulled out on me. He just didn’t look and if there had been anything coming the other way, I would had the choice of hitting his vehicle side-on or the other vehicle head-on. Luckily, there wasn’t any traffic and I passed easily.
I did shake my head at him and he took offence. So as I drove out of the city in a queue of traffic at the legal limit, he was about a couple of metres from my back bumper. This behaviour continued on the A14, until I was able to let him go.
We’ve all had things like this happen and they are just too trivial to report. For me life is too short and I have many more important things to do, than waiting in a Police Station to fill in endless forms, that will result in no action at all.
Now, this guy’s behaviour could have been caused by many things. He may have just got out of bed the wrong side, had a row with his girl-friend or more seriously he may have been severely hung over from the night before. One off’s are excusable, but supposing he’s a bad driver all the time and is always driving like this. If it’s the latter he needs to be informed that his behaviour is not acceptable.
I should say that I have a vested interest at this point. A few years before my wife died, she had breast cancer. The cancer appeared at exactly the same spot, as where she had got a bruise from a car air-bag in an accident. (Search various forums and you’ll find other women, who have got breast cancer by say being hit by a ball, whilst playing tennis or squash.) The cause of the accident had been a foreign truck driver. A few months later we believe that the same driver killed an innocent motorist because he was driving outside his hours.
How many near misses had the truck driver had in the UK between the accident with my wife and the killing of the other driver?
What is needed is a site, where driving misbehaviour can be reported? Not a site run by say the transport industry, which only reports compliments, but one run by the Police.
Obviously, the Police would not be able to follow-up every report, but software exists to analyse these reports to identify the worst offenders. (I’ve wrote systems like this so I know!) So if say a vehicle is always cutting up other drivers, then it can be identified. Probably in most cases a simple letter to the keeper of the vehicle would suffice.
But, one thing that has to be born in mind is the fact that often bad drivers, find it impossible to get any insurance and so how many of those reported would be drivers who shouldn’t be on the road for one reason or another. You may think that this a bad link, but the Police have shown that if they stop a driver without valid documents, there is a fifty percent chance a non-motoring offence is being committed.
The system would have to have safeguards, but just as it would identify bad and irresponsible drivers, it would also identify the vindictive, who perhaps constantly report someone for parking outside their house, when they have a perfect right to do so. I’ve heard policemen say that these are sometimes the worst disputes between neighbours.
Properly used such a database would be an asset to everyone, but if it was setup badly, it could be used as a means of abuse.
Over the last few days, we’ve had reports of cyberbullying and problems with social networking sights.
Let’s take the cyberbullying first and I’ll add to that all of the fraudulent scam e-mails that you get trying to extract money from your bank account. The problems may be different, but the solutions are the same.
The government should have a short text message number and a simple e-mail address, where any unwanted message can be sent. These could then be analysed and real abusers located. With say mobile phones, the abuser would just be told to desist and after a second strike their number would be cancelled. The same could be done with e-mail messages too, although here it would be more difficult to cancel addresses as many are outside the jurisdiction. But many of these e-mail scams use UK phone numbers, which can of course be cancelled immediately.
Some would argue that this might be a bit draconian, but I suspect, it would most abusers would quickly take the hind and desist. You won’t stop the foreign crooks and their scams, but hopefully the publicity would mean that there work was less productive.
There is always the point about who pays.
In fact, if done properly, these sort of systems would be self-financing, as there would be reductions in motoring offences, cyberbullying and e-mail fraud.
Unfortunately, Pete’s budget would have to be raided to pay for Paul’s. Governments never do that well!
Reporting Internet Abuse
There has been a lot of reporting lately about cyberbullying and abuse on social networking sites. In fact the BBC breakfast phone-in was about this subject.
I have no experience of reporting problems on social networking sites, but for years I have been fighting a campaign against on-line fraudsters using the Internet and mobile phones. I have reported endless people for abuse to e-mail organisations and so have many others I know who work in this field.
No service provider have ever informed me that they have taken serious action. As these scams are still occurring, it would appear that nothing has been done. I have found that the same e-mail addresses keep coming up in different scams.
Why?
These companies want the traffic to continue and as they run tight ships, they can’t afford the methods that everyone knows would stop all of these practices.
It is exactly the same with social networking sites. Put a button to report abuse on a site and the abusers will go elsewhere, so a site that does it, will lose traffic and advertising revenue, which is of course geared to traffic.
I also have a granddaughter and she was showing me an innocent site aimed at her age, with educational games, quizzes and puzzles. There was nothing wrong with the site, but some of the advertising on it, was promoting all the foods and snack products that you shouldn’t give to children of her age.
All of these problems are driven by commercial interests, most of which are headquartered outside of the jurisdiction of the UK and the EU. So in truth we are just whistling in the dark and the sites will never change.
All these indignant phone-ins are just free publicity for these social networking sites. They would have had to pay millions to get the same effect. I’d love to see how many new members have joined them in the last few days.
The Anonymous Widower 