February 1, 2006

Does this surprise anybody at all? Yeah, the worst department of state is up to its old tricks again. Its accounts are so dire that the National Audit Office finds it impossible even to tell how bad they really are. That’s pretty fucking bad, I think you’ll agree. Apparently they can’t even do their bleeding…

Kathryn Cramer is under some unwelcome pressure from a PR flunkey for the UN force in Haiti after her series on the activities of a bizarre bunch of mercenaries calling themselves “Consultants Advisory Group” down there. Specifically, one David Wimshurst at MINUSTAH headquarters responded to an inquiry from her side with a very unpleasant slab…

In fact, it might well be. Nokia just released an implementation of Python, the well-known scripting language, for Symbian Series 60 phones – and it’s all open source so anyone can have a go at making their own fancy “services”. What’s the betting that a) 90% of its uses will be completely frivolous and b)…

BoingBoing recently posted regarding the long-tailed boats used in South-East Asia, essentially traditional designs with old lorry engines installed on a long steerable propshaft in the stern. I was reminded of a curious piece of history and wrote to the BBsters as follows: It’s not well known that those boats originate from a change in…