Snow Watch 2007 Update

The met office have now updated the Heavy snow severe weather warning running from 0100 to 1500 on Thursday 8th.

The same amounts of snow have been predicted but the probability of disruption in Oxfordshire has risen from 70% to 90%.

Another thing I wanted to mention is that the met office are asking you to report the depth of snow to them when it snows. The inner geek in me gives that idea two thumbs up. I shall be out in the snow with my ruler and sending in my report.

Met Office snow report link

Barometer reading currently 998 mB and falling slowly. No snow as yet.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

The met office have now issued a sever weather warning for pretty much all of England and Wales from 2300 7/2 to 1500 8/2 for Heavy Snow.

This is the first flash warning which will be updated tomorrow.

Accumulations of 2 -5 cm snow are expected widely in land. In some areas of the Midlands and Wales 10 - 15 cm.

This could cause severe disruption to the travel networks especially as it is expected to hit the south east during the rush hour.

For the Oxfordshire area it states there is a 70% risk of disruption (Note not just snow but disruption) from heavy snow.

The met office even tell you what to prepare for when they issue a severe weather warning. Of course this helpful advice is by in large ignored by the vast majority of the general public who try to go about their normal lives, all the roads block up and then they blame the government.

People should take responsibility for their own actions.Better to be prepared for the worst and be pleasantly surprised than be unprepared on your own and in trouble.

I will post a further update tomorrow based on the latest update from the met office.

Should prospective parents be able to determine their child’s gender?

A love to lead weekly discussion topic

No.

The beauty and intrinsic value of nature is in its random chance. To allow one set of parents to determine a child's gender is to start to define society along populist lines. Do we really want to create a fashion trend or a society where we can no longer celebrate our own individuality because we are all the same, predetermined at birth.

Can you imagine trend spotters on the news coming on saying this years must have baby is a boy with blue eyes and blonde hair. If we allow interference with natural selection of gender it will not stop at gender, it will be hair, height, mental abilities and other common variable.

It will become like a role playing computer games where you set up your characters starting characteristics such as charm and intelligence.

It will create armies of David Beckham's or Harry Potter's. Everyone will be the same just as today children have the same names, as they go in and out of fashion.

Children instead of a blessing will become a fashion accessory to show off to your friends.

The uniqueness that makes a person them can be based on their gender. Although there is equality of the sexes there will always be different ways of looking at things based on gender.

Take some historical figures, a female Einstein may well have been a great scientist in maybe a different field but they would not have been Einstein.

Take Margaret Thatcher, as a man he would have been a different leader with different views, would he have become the leader of the Tory party?

A person's opinions and actions are directly linked to their gender. This can both be a strength and a weakness for both genders, but just as twins can be exactly the same they will have different lives and personalities.

As well as the sociological factors there are also the scientific factors. Gender selection in the womb can be determined by changes in the external environment. As such should we really interfere, could we be putting our children at risk by deciding that we know better than nature?

In Summary

A child gender should not and can not be decided in the same way as we would choose a child's name.

To allow such selection would open up Pandora's box of children becoming the latest fashion accessory.

There are sometimes reasons why nature chooses one sex over the other, should we really interfere?

Snow Watch 2007 Update

Well we are three days out from the predicted snowfall. The BBC weather service for Oxford says snow on Thursday / Friday and the met office (virtually the same data) says light snow for Banbury, N. Oxfordshire on Thursday / Friday.

No early warning of severe weather and although I looked at the pressure charts on the met office website it is very difficult to tell what is actually going on.

Current barometer reading 1014 mB falling.

This could mean snow earlier rather than later as the barometer is dropping through the change area towards rain (snow in this case)

Still too early to say what will happen, watch this space.

The Articles of War - 1749

If you read any of Patrick O'Brien or Dudley Pope's book or indeed any other book about the Royal Navy in Nelson's time you will come across the articles of war.

These in a sense were the ten commandments of the day, read out in the same reverence as a sermon. To some seamen they were the closest thing to a naval prayer and although probably not known by heart were as familiar as the bible's ten commandments.

The way the sentence of death follows several crimes is like a full stop or "Amen" after a prayer.

A seaman's life was harsh and punishment was often cruel and swift. The Captain of a ship was a virtual dictator, a giver and taker of reward and punishment. The Captain was always right by virtue of the articles of war even if questionably sane.

The questioning of command was to face a court martial which could result in your death especially if the Captain had friends in high places.

The articles of war were essentially to keep the lower ranks of often pressed men ( men grabbed by the navy from on shore or from merchant ships) who were often rebellious and un-compliant under control.

It was not a fair or just system but one which was believed to be necessary to counter the threat from the European navies of the era.

The articles of war were the basis of power in the navy. It regimented discipline in an at times unruly mob.

However even these harsh threats with many actions resulting in death did not prevent widespread break downs in discipline. Entire fleets mutinied at Nore and Spithead as well as other mutinies in individual ships. Leaders and other participants were often hung as a result in accordance with the articles of war.

The authors lead us to believe that good Captains barely resorted to the punishment set out in the articles. These Captains maintain discipline as good military commanders do, by giving firm leadership, inspiring loyalty and when offences were committed dealing with offenders fairly and leniently if appropriate.

The bad captains used the articles as a crutch pouncing on any small infraction and punishing the offenders swiftly and severely, these captain were weak leaders who ruled by fear and threat of punishment.

The articles of war could never be described as a pleasant rule book and lives depended on senior officers interpretation of the articles.

It comes down to whether the ends justify the means. Our forces by in large withstood attacks from Europe but sailors suffered grievously under the articles of war disciplinary regime.

As always there is a balance to be maintained between the eventual outcome and the immediate rights of the individual.

Audio File - Article 12

How Technology Moves On

(Hopefully the link works sometimes New Scientist stuff is subscriber only)

From issue 2589 of New Scientist magazine, 03 February 2007, page 14
From The New Scientist, 7 February 1957.

New Scientist has a weekly column entitled 50 years ago this week. Well for this issue it goes back to an article from February 1957 talking about the upcoming developments in telephone calls. The article talks about systems which we now take for granted which were only then in the earliest of trial stages.

The first paragraph starkly outlines the difference between then and now:

The ideal telephone service, one supposes, would make it possible to pick up any telephone in the world, dial the number for any other telephone and, having been instantly connected, talk for as long as one liked

We achieved that and more, what would the original author thing of mobile phones, satellite phones, fibre optics and the interweb.

It then goes on to describe three developments that would make that ideal nearer:

1. Subscriber dialled trunk calls.

The first facilities by which a British subscriber can dial their own trunk calls - direct calls without the need to be directed via an operator between cities with different area codes are scheduled for 1959.

2. Automatic exchanges scheduled for 1961

3. radio telephone links for such remote places as Orkney.

The article concludes with two more stark examples of how far we have come.

But how will this affect the subscriber in the long term? With the introduction of trunk-dialling the current time-limited, three minute call will probably be abandoned and replaced by a system of charges based on time multiplied by distance.

There may even be a time in the foreseeable future when a flat rate for all UK telephone calls becomes a reality.

Where will the next fifty years take us? Judging on this small example it will be beyond our wildest imaginations.

Snow Watch 2007 - Leg 2

Snow Watch 2007 is back with the beginning of leg 2. As seen on the "Country File" weekly weather forecast. Snow is likely towards Wednesday / Thursday of this week.

This sudden return to winter cold follows on from the second warmest January on record. Yet another warm or dry weather record broken in recent years.

From Monday a cold weather high pressure system will take root over most of the UK. Then from Wednesday onward a mild weather low pressure system attacks from the western approaches.

This is a battle of the titans and where they clash snow is expected. This is very early on the game and even the met office are not sure what or where anything may happen.

It all depends on how strong the high pressure is, if the Atlantic lows keep breaking against it we can expect to see significant snowfall but if the lows force the high out it will be the usual cold damp rain.

The met office website is forecasting sleet on Wednesday followed by rain on Thursday. So it could be nothing or it could be snow.

More updates as ever to follow.

West Wing Quotes

I found the imdb quotes page for the West Wing by Aaron Sorkin. I should mention that the internet movie database which I would think most people have found by now is a fantastic encyclopaedic reference site for anything film or tv related.

Anyway here are a few of my favourite quotes:

[Charlie seeks and obtains the President's permission to date his daughter]
President Josiah Bartlet: Just remember these two things: she's nineteen years old, and the 82nd Airborne works for me.

Charlie is the young bagman to the president for those that have never caught the show.

[the President neglected a formality transferring executive power before going into surgery]
Margaret: Can I just say something for the future? *I* can sign the president's name. I've got his signature down pretty good.
Leo McGarry: You can sign the president's name?
Margaret: Yeah.
Leo McGarry: On a document removing him from power and giving it to someone else?
Margaret: Yeah. Or do you think the White House Counsel would say that's a bad idea?
Leo McGarry: I think the White House Counsel would say that's a Coup D'Etat.
Margaret: I'd probably end up doing some time for that.
Leo McGarry: I would think. And what the hell are you doing practicing the president's signature?
Margaret: It's just for fun.
Leo McGarry: We've got separation of powers, checks and balances, and Margaret, vetoing things and sending them back to the hill.

Leo McGarry is Chief of Staff and Margaret is his secretary.

Sam Seaborn: Toby, do you really think it's a good idea to invite people to dinner and then to tell them exactly what they're doing wrong with their lives?
Toby Ziegler: Absolutely, otherwise it's just a waste of food.

Sam and Toby are the speech writers

Mandy Hampton: You guys are idiots, did you know that?
C.J. Cregg: You know, in our defense, we actually did know that.

CJ Cregg is the fantastic Press Secretary, can't remember who Mandy Hampton was.

I could go on, as there literally are 100's of quotes on the page.

I have to say it is difficult to pick favourite characters from the show as they are all damn good actors but I would also like to give special mention to the character Donna Moss who is not mentioned here, I could fall in love very easily with a girl like her.

Current Affairs

I do think about writing about current news items, the reason I often don't is because other people express opinions better.

Take the recent prison story of all the UK prisons being full up.

There are no great answers and it is a very complicated situation trying to balance suitable punishment with effective rehabilitation.

If the prisons are full then I am sorry Mr Reid you have to build more prisons not release prisoners early or send memo's tell judge's who are trying to keep Britain safe not to send people to jail.

Of course the media loved this story, they camped in courts waiting for a judge saying he was giving a lesser sentence because of a memo. Even better if it was someone like a persistent violent offender or a sex offender.

Sadly if you read some of the blogs like the most excellent Inspector Gadget you will see that there is a lot wrong with the criminal justice system and lenient sentencing was rife even before this latest furore. The only difference is that this time the media could try to force a politician to resign.

Mr Reid is proving to be a bit of a Teflon minister (Teflinister or Teflonitician), however much criticism the media throws at him none of it seems to stick. Perhaps he would even make a suitable prime minister, a steady hand at the wheel.

Anyway back to prisons, I worried about the figure of 80,000 prisoners after all it is a prison population three times the size of my town. In reality it equates to less than 0.002% of the UK population, however again the prison population doesn't represent the number of people that should actually be in prison.

On rehabilitation I have mixed feelings, at least if people are locked up they are not out on the street. On the other hand they will be at some point and rehabilitation is the only chance of breaking the cycle of crime and reducing itin the long term.

On rehabilitation I would say that there are a lot of very dedicated professionals who work for little or know pay making a difference to people's lives. In many instances they save lives.

You could consider military service as a suitable intervention, a lot of troublesome teens have joined up, get straightened out and on leaving go on to better things. Perhaps military service could be an alternative to prison sentences.

After any length of thought you can only come to the conclusion that being locked up can only ever be a short term solution or for the most serious of cases. There must be another solution and one that is not a media led knee jerk reaction.

This is why I don't often write about current affairs, there are no easy answers, no solutions that haven't already been tried and far, far greater minds with greater ideas.

Recruitment, Life and Death Decisions

Whilst doing some assessment centre work recently I was doing my usual second thoughts process of watching people.

One of the ideas of this particular brand of recruitment centre is that as they pass each stage we tell them the result.Obviously as it becomes more involved in the later stages it becomes really serious. When I was telling some of the candidates that it was time to go home I was crushing their dreams, they had almost not considered failure and who was I to tell them it was all over.

A "No" in these situations will remain a "No" and the only thing I can do is spend some time with them explain any feedback and de-brief them. For some it is still a great shock and disappointment.

My day consisted of going from "No" candidates to "Yes" candidates, so one minute I would be watching a face go from worried to full beam smile, and the next worried to despair.

Now that is not a good description of how the candidates were taking these decisions, so I came up with an analogy to describe the reactions.

Dead Cat / Resuscitated Cat

The idea is that instead of telling them Yes / No I can tell them a story to get the same reactions. Here are my two stories:

Dead Cat

I am sorry but your cat has died, there was nothing I could do.

Resuscitated Cat

Your cat is going to be fine, the operation was a complete success and we have managed to save her. She will be running around in no time.

I can imagine the reactions on the peoples faces would be the same that I have seen.

Of course the amazing things is the very variety of reactions that I get, especially when I tell them they have got the job offer. Some people barely react and it is always difficult to tell whether they are just really cool headed people or whether what I am saying has just not sunk in yet.

I guess it all goes to show that we are all individuals.

On another note if I were feeling like creating myself a new job title maybe I should call myself the "Death of Cats" making decisions of life and death.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

Well I think that is the end of the first leg in Snow Watch 2007.

The short term forecast is generally dry with some cloud. However, it is still early in the season and I remain hopeful for significant snow fall later in February. Long range forecasts from the met office suggest for the next 6 to 15 day period that:

"There is a possibility that colder more wintry conditions spread to many other parts later in the period."

So the reports will begin again when snow heads this way. This is Snow Moore handing you back to normal programming.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

Well the snow came overnight on the 23/24 January. On Wednesday morning I woke up to about a 1/2 inch of snow. It was lovely powdery stuff as I walked towards another day.

Most of the main roads were clear and traffic was flowing pretty much as normal although obviously some people decided they would rather stay at home. Untreated roads looked a bit dodgy.

The only sad thing is that I did not get to walk around while the snow flakes were actually falling, that is such a magical thing.




I was up early before dawn heading for a busy day. Sadly one of my infrequent 12 hour days so I did not get to see any more of the snow, by evening it was well on the way to water, ice and slush although there is the odd lingering patch still around today.

Poppies against a fence

Poppies against a fence.

Why ... Why not?

Snow Watch 2007 Update

*** Newsflash***

Dateline 22 January 2007. Time 10.55 pm

I am reporting to you almost live from Northern Oxfordshire where locals have been witnessing what can only be described as a shake of snow. A passing cloud deposited this wintry present so quickly that several people blinked and missed it.

Here is what one local said:

" I have never seen the like, snow in January that will be global warming"

I also spoke to this old gentleman

" Call that snow, in my day it would be six foot deep by now."

(on screen image of six foot snow drift with caption "reconstruction")

This is I am Snow, Northern Oxfordshire, getting colder by the minute, I think my foot has frozen, back to Jon in the studio.

(No news reporters were hurt in this sketch but the shake of snow was real)

Dictionary definition: (my own)

A shake of snow: a sparse ground covering of snow similar to the effect of sieving icing sugar onto a Victoria sandwich.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

Well Monday 22nd January 2007, and here is the Northern Oxfordshire snow update.

(newsy type music, think drum beats, repetitive, forthright etc)

No snow as yet but still hopeful!

Barometer is high and rising slowly.

My snow theory is that you need high pressure with a series of weak low fronts breaking against the high, therefore most likely place to see an accumulation of snow is in the area between the two. It usually comes down from the north and starts with a very cold high pressure area. So according to the barometer we have the high pressure, come on that low.

No weather warnings out from the met office but BBC suggested snow on Wednesday was possible. According to the BBC 24 hour weather for Oxford there is a chance of a light snow shower at around 0700 on Tuesday. Anybody want to put money on it.

More snow updates to follow.


(more newsy type music, think drum beats, repetitive, forthright etc)

Quick Joke email

Received today in my work inbox, made me chuckle.

Warning

I am not usually one for posting warnings about potential scams but I had a close miss yesterday. I walked into B & Q at lunchtime and some old guy dressed in orange asked me if I wanted decking. Fortunately I got a quick punch in and that was the end of that. Those less suspecting might not be so lucky.

Just say "No" to decking. You have been warned. Be careful out there.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

The latest news is that freezing snow and ice will sweep down from the north as early as tomorrow.

"Scotland, the Borders, the north east, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, East Anglia and Kent could see snow falls measured in inches."

I wont hold my breath, more updates to follow.

Snow Watch 2007

Well in the centre of England I now feel the time is right for me to declare the Snow Watch 2007 season open.

Following up on the "Worst storm in the last 17 years" the weather people have been hinting at a cold snap with a possibility of snow on Monday or Tuesday. One forecaster even suggested "Snow for most". Of course given the usual timid forecasting of snow by the weather people this could mean anything from heavy rain to blizzards.

Latest release from the met office.

No weather warnings released as yet but they are usually not issued until 24/48 hours before the actual event so it may be a bit early yet.

Watch this space.

One is Most Displeased Mr Blair

When I get bored on the bus I make up comedy sketches: Sometimes I even remember to write them down, so I thought I might post a few. Sadly, they may only be funny in my head.

One is most displeased Mr Blair.

Queen: So Mr Blair what is it one wishes to discuss this time.

TB: I thought we might discuss your speech to parliament.

Queen: I grow tired of your smiling face Mr. Blair and so one is willing to give you ten seconds head start.

TB: Pardon Ma'am

Queen: (Pumps a pump action shotgun one handed) One will start counting now. 10, 9,

TB: But surely Ma'am

Queen: No Mr Blair one knows the will of the people and one has had enough. Philip release the attack corgis. That is 5 Mr Blair.

Prince Philip: Yes Lizzie (mutters) bloody politician Liz will show him what for.

TB: Good Afternoon Ma'am (shouted as runs away)

(Queen shoots and blows a hole in the door which has closed just after TB)

Queen: Bugger

Philip: Never mind Liz the bloody idiot didn’t give you the script for the speech, he will have to come back.

Queen: Good, one wonders if one has a handy bear trap.

Quotes

One of many little things I collect is quotes. Some of them come with pictures, so I can stick them on my wall. I know people find inspirational quotes a bit annoying, some of them state the obvious etc blah blah blah.

I like them and they don't harm anyone, so any complaints address them to the complaints manager who as they say is definitely not bothered.

Here are some of the ones I have picked up:

"It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed" - Harvey Samuel Firestone

If you haven't guessed he was the founder of the tyre and rubber company. He has a high school in Ohio named after him, like many other Americans.

Quite a simple quote really, its easier to achieve greatness yourself but to prolong and achieve lasting greatness you need to pass your experience and knowledge onto the next generation.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away." - Leonardo Di Vinci

Everyone should know who Leonardo was, he played the lead in "Titanic". Oops sorry wrong Leonardo, Da Vinci was Mr Renaissance man. He wrote his famous notebooks full of all his thoughts which this blog is a kind of homage to.

The quote itself is breath taking (Puntastic). I don't think it needs much explanation as it is one of those rare quotes that touches something in the human soul and speaks to us on another level from mere words and letters.

"It's so much friendly with two" - Pooh Bear (A. A Milne fictional character)

Given to me by an ex-girlfriend as one of those romantic little keep-sakes. It is right though most things are better when there are two of you. Humans are not really supposed to be alone, everyone needs somone.