In between Times

This is going to be interesting. In the seven years I've lived here, the Conservatives have gone through three leaders. And now they are set to elect another one. Ken Clarke was ousted from the selection process yesterday, and the contenders are scampering to get his supporters. As much as this decision will influence future British politics enormously (will it ?), I want to capture this moment, where things have not yet been decided. I love these 'in between' times. And althouth Cameron has just been saying that he takes nothing for granted, he will emerge on top. My inkling, nothing more. But as we don't know, and can't be sure, and are held not to predict, these times are interesting.

Long Tail Science

Taking a page out of Chris Andersons book, I am sure that this applies to science aswell:

It seems obvious in hindsight. As most of the long tail metaphor does. The interesting thing is what you can do with it, once you have really understood the concept. I suppose you can plot the impact factor of science journals and get such a curve.

[Update]: people have looked into this. This June, Nature had a short story on exactly this topic (Nature 435, 1003-1004 (23 June 2005)):

These figures all reflect just how strongly the impact factor is influenced by a small minority of papers — no doubt to a lesser extent in more specialized journals, but significantly nevertheless. However, we are just as satisfied with the value of our papers in the ‘long tail’ as with that of the more highly cited work.

The citation rate of our papers also varies sharply between disciplines. Many of Nature’s papers in immunology published in 2003 have since received between 50 and 200 citations. Significant proportions of those in cancer and molecular and cell biology have been in the 50−150 range. But papers in physics, palaeontology and climatology typically achieved fewer than 50 citations. Clearly, these reflect differences in disciplinary dynamics, not in quality.

It would be interesting to see the disciplines aligned according citations.

RIBA Sterling 2005

Pretty neat architecture. Very different buildings. The Scottish Parliament won the prize this year. It was probably a foregone conclusion, especially since it was given twice as much time on air as the other buildings. I actually really liked the Fawoods Children's Centre a lot. It has open space indoor play grounds. Because the walls are just wiremesh, the indoors is equally outdoors. It looks wonderful, and gives the kids a lovely, uplifting and fun place in this otherwise quite dreary estate. The other buildings are also certainly worth a look. Channel 4 has a page on them here.

Stevenote

This is Steve Jobs showing off PhotoBooth.. :) The crowd went hysterical..... :):)




The stream is currently here. Enjoy.

Blurb

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been receiving calls from some phone company, wishing to sell me a new mobile phone. You can of course always tell right at the start - even before you hear a voice - that this is a sales call, because it takes a second or two to make the connection to India, while one is treated to a pleasant background of static crackling. After the line has sorted itself out, invariably a polite person asks me if I use a mobile phone, and if I was interested in upgrading to a new one.
Now, I have sympathy for these people. Those working the phones. The young people in India. So I am polite. I ask them, what they are offering me, and if they could tell me what it will cost (I love the bloke who initially sad he wasn't trying to sell me anything, just offering me a service. Sure, a service. One that I have to pay for, surely. He agreed. My question, what he was trying to sell me must have somehow caught him offguard).
Today the lady was slightly more impertinent. The offer sounded interesting. There were loads of free minutes, a free phone, free texts, cashback every three months. Ok, sounds nice. A free flight to Boston or New York. Wow.. really ? Amazing. That sounds great. I asked, whether I could have the details of these offers. Sure - do you have a pen ? No, I mean, in writing. Can you send me the details, on paper, as a proper contract ? With all the lovely benefits, freebies and cashbacks, so that I can properly decide, whether to take up your offer ? She argued with me. She offered me the phone number of the customer call centre (0870-66 66 888). The name of the company (Mangotel Inc, Tulip House), offered to repeat everything she said so that I could write it down. No, I am interested, but I would be glad to receive this offer from you, in writing. She became desperate. This she couldn't do, it would be like divorce before a marriage, was against company policy.
One does have to wonder. I did. Is this legal ? Do I have the right to expect to see something in writing before I commit to some vague offer ? The dti (Department of Trade and Industry) has a page entitled "Guide to Distance Selling Regulations" here. The seller does have to provide prior information. But written information only has to be given once an order has been made. This is the furthest the seller has to go, according to the dti:

The seller must provide this confirmation at the latest by the time that the goods are delivered or, in the case of services, before or in good time during the performance of the contract.

So, according to this, this is legit. I can always send it back, of course (although said lady referred to this as 'divorce before marriage' - how shameful my suggestion must have seemed). But I am not entitled to receiving an offer in writing before commiting myself. This is rubbish. But of course, one can always bluff, and bamboozle them, by telling them they are probably not dealing in accordance with the dti's regulation to Distance Selling, (SI 2000, No. 2334), which stipulates - and I quote - : "The seller must provide confirmation [of the goods or services offered ...] before or in good time during the performance of the contract." If you feel cheeky, leave out the "or in good time during".

Umfrage - Survey

If you speak German - an alle deutschsprachigen hier.. :) Eine Blogger Umfrage...

Diskurs ist wichtiger als Dogmen

Mein erster Eindruck ist, diese Entscheidung war falsch. Dem Spiegel zufolge hat Dieter Althaus, der Ministerpräsident von Thüringen, Siegfried Scherer ausgeladen. Ich kenne Scherer nicht, und halte kreationistische Ideen für wissenschaftlich leer und irreführend. Aber Diskussionen sind wichtig. Vielleicht würde ich nicht so urteilen, wenn sich Scherer als erfolgreicher Populist heraustellen würde, als jemand, der Eskimos Kühlschränke verkaufen kann, als Hypnotiseur oder Fernseh-prediger. Ich vermute aber vielmehr, dass er nicht die Gabe besitzt, Menschen von komplettem Unsinn überzeugen zu können. Und insofern sollte man sich seinen Thesen stellen, seine Anschauungen betrachten und kritisieren dürfen. Auch - und vielleicht insbesonders - öffentlich. Es sieht nun nach Zensur aus, was der Debatte nicht hilft.

CARS

We all love CARS. At least, I do. Everybody loves CARS ! If you're thinking four wheels, a bonnet and cylinders, fuel fumes and the like, sorry, nope. I cycle everywhere, and I'm talking about CrazyAppleRumourSite. They are just brilliant. I don't know what it is, they just really make me laugh. Gotta love them.. this is just too good. Love it. I'd love to see how they work. I can sort of imagine, and maybe I don't really want to know... but their stories are just ... Although.. you have to be a complete Mac-head, to find their stories even remotely funny. But as I am... :) I should link to some of their best stories. The TiBook one all started it off for me. It was actually quoted in a newsgroup, and some people believed it was a genuine news story. The resulting outraged comments were hilarious...

What is this called again... ?

He is my favorite web-pundit. He adorns his site with an evocative image courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc. - without a copyright notice, or even a link to the proprietors site. He then spends a number of posts on the issue of the scratching iPod nano. In his eyes, 'this is suddenly starting to look like a huge problem' - notwithstanding the headline, identifying the same issue as 'Pocket-sized'. Maybe he has huge pockets.. He then quotes Jim Allchin, whose nano broke on him the first day he had it. That's sad. Jim is a terrific guy (not that I know him personally... but I've read things that make me respect him), but that wasn't a particularly effective swipe, either. He, PT, has a psychopathically ambivalent attitude towards Apple. Loves the stuff, and loves to take a whack. Reminds me of Monty Python: the Aussies hunting mosquitoes: 'I love animals, that's why I like to kill'em' Go ahead, Paul. Take another shot.

Amanda Platell

A few days ago the BBC aired a programme entitled 'How Euro Are You ?'. Andrew Marr hosted it, together with Dara O'Briain. It was one of the usual audience - cum - panel quizzes, where you get to answer mildly or terribly inane questions on your opinions on some subject - Europe in this case. Among the panelists was Amanda Platell, William Hagues former press secretary. A conservative Lady, who is originally from Perth, Australia.

At one point the discussion turned to the role of the media in shaping opinions of Britons toward mainland Europe. A person in the audience noted how she found the papers were full of mistrust and in some cases, outright lies, about what happens on the continent. This was the source of the many negative feelings people here harboured toward the rest of europe. Amanda disagreed. The papers, she said, would simply go out of business, if they didn't reflect the views of the public. They were not responsible. They simply mirrored opinions held by the majority of the public. This is what the readership wanted. You would go broke if you tried to sell them anything else.

This is hardly a convincing argument. It reminds me very much of what Jamie Oliver faced when he tried to do something about the attrocious food children are / were being served in schools here. The retort constantly was that these children simply wanted rubbish food, they loved it, wouldn't eat anything else. No matter that we know it is devoid of anything really healthy, contains nigh a trace of minerals, is low on vitamins and makes kids hyperactive and fat.

The same can be said for the news outlets Amanda works for. What they write is dangerously low on the essential trace elements of context, perspective and subtle argumentation. They sell easily digestible headlines, under the excuse that it is this that people crave for. As if we didn't know any better. This kind of nurishment is analogous to a diet consisting exclusively of saturated fat, processed starch, flavoured only with lots of sugar or salt. Refried Headlines. Fizzy News.