Author: Giles

[SURVEYS 1]

Trying to figure out carbon footprints for manufactured products is absurd. Let’s take an extremely simple example. It must be easy to work out how much carbon it would take to produce and sell something as simple as a woodscrew, right?

Take a look at my attempt below and tell me if I’ve put anything in which is wrong (not if I’ve missed anything – I know I have). My aim here is to show how impossibly complex a full analysis would be, not even to try attempt a full analysis. I also want to show that an incomplete analysis doesn’t even give you a rough lower bound – it could even be too high if you don’t take everything into account (although it’s not likely to be).

Continue reading “Screwy Carbon Tax Calculations (unless they’re at source)”

Rigihof hotel directions page needs work.shuttle costs 25 CHF, which is not mentioned on the web page and they only tell you after you’ve sat on it waiting for it to leave for 20 mins. Tram stop Winkelriedstrasse is not on the list on the ticket machine. There are 3 exits to HBHF and it took me 1/2 an hour to find where the tram No 10 goes from…. http://bit.ly/4tbU53
Otherwise, a nice hotel…

I really like Dawkins’ book “The God Delusion”. Although I agree with his conclusions especially regarding the pernicious effect of religion on society, I don’t agree with Dawkins’ arguments from probability.

Continue reading “Dawkins and probability”

This seems to me to be one of the most important breakthroughs in many years:
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1536414.1536440

Using this scheme, one can arbitrarily compute on encrypted data

http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/possibly-the-best-optical-ilusion-i-have-seen-all-year/

Here is my electricity usage. I’m tracking this because I installed photovoltaics (Y Axis is KwH):

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+do+I+insert+a+table+in+Word

Is it just my usage pattern or is this the most screwed up feature ever to show it’s face in any application. I took a movie or 2 of a typical interaction with this feature, just to show the world I’m not making it up. They would be quite amusing if I wasn’t trying to finish an important (to me) doc….
In the movie you’ll see

• “Continue numbering” with the previous number as 1, turn a number to 97 or something
• Set number value (how can that be misinterpreted OR difficult to program??) turn a number to 97 and indent it by the wrong amount which then can’t be undone without turning all the numbers in the entire document to one long list…
• Various failed attempts to copy bits from numbering parts which turned out OK but mysteriously screw up when pasted in this bit
• Starting a new line does not produce a new number for some reason

Like this… esp the bit about medical errors. I avoid hospitals like the plague these days. http://www.counterpunch.org/goekler03242009.html