Lost iPod Classics

I do a lot of driving, up to 500 miles a week. I use a combination of my iPod and Radio 4 to keep me amused.My iPod has over 9000 songs, I went on a mad acquisitive splurge when I realised I had 80GB to use up and begged , borrowed, encoded and generally got hold of as much music as I could, as quickly as I could.

Now almost 80Gb of music is 28 days worth non-stop. Checking on iTunes I discovered that there are almost 2000 songs I have never listened to so I created a play list of all the songs which are unplayed and have been faithfully working my way through this for the past week or so.
It's been great. I have albums on there that I had almost completely forgotten about and also highlighted some shite that will not last out the week too.

Give it a go if you have a big iPod collection give it a go.

Question about Arctic Ice Melting

Hopefully we some amateur scientist on here who can tell me if I am correct about the following.

If I chuck a great big block of ice into a bath tub which is a quarter filled with water the ice will displace the water and the level in the bathtub will rise. It normally understood that 90% of an iceberg is hidden below the surface of the seas and I assume the same would apply to my block of ice. With me so far? OK. The ice melts. What will the effect be on the water level in the bathtub? Common sense tells me that there would be very little if any difference in level as ice is less dense than water, which is why it floats.

So to the Arctic. We are currently getting ourselves into an environmental lather over melting sea ice in the arctic, but surely as this ice already floats on the seas the effect on seas levels would be very slight even if it all melted? Have I got this right and if I have why is it never mentioned by the environmental scientists?

This alarmist piece by the BBC would seem therefore to out of all proportion. The real danger, so far as I can see, is land based ice melting and running off into the sea. This would raise sea levels definitely.

For example the majority of ice in Antarctica is over land. Problem is that most projections relating to Global Warming predict an increase in precipitation over Antarctica which will serve to thicken the ice and that thickened ice will also reflect back more of the sun's heat causing a cooling effect.

Complicated this climate stuff isn't it?

Blair's Legacy

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

Dwight D. Eisenhower - April 16, 1953

It made me feel quite ill watching Tony Blair grinning like a Cheshire cat yesterday as he basked in the glory of the historic step towards peace in Ulster. He has been desperately flailing around looking for a legacy and this seemed like a God sent opportunity to bask in some glory before he departs from office.

Blair’s true legacy will be and deserves to be the Iraq war. The cost of the Iraq war is now nudging $400 billion. Oh what could have been achieved with that money? We could have ensured that the entire population of the Third World had clean drinking water, access to education, a chance to turn their fortunes around. What did we get? A totally fucked up Iraq which is orders of magnitude worse that it ever was under the Saddam Hussein regime. Currently 1000 Iraqis a week are being killed and the Allies are desperately seeking a way of pulling their troops out and leaving “security issues” to the Iraqi government.

Iraq is your legacy Mr Blair not Northern Ireland.

The Miracle in Belfast? Really?

Quite a lot of newspapers are today covering and event that few people ever thought they would see. Sinn Féin and Ian Paisley sharing a platform, laughing convivially like old mates, and about to enter into a power sharing administration in Northern Ireland. Whilst this is an event to celebrate as it is a tangible manifestation of the recent peace process we should not get too carried away with the supposed magnanimity of either side. Politics has truly come of age in Ulster and this event demonstrates that better than any event in the past 70 odd years.

So why did they do it? Why did they bury the hatchet (well cover it with dry leaves anyway)? The answer is simple. The greatest desire of any and all politicians is to exercise power. That is why they become politicians in the first place. From the lowliest parent who wants to be a school governor to councillors and MPs. What is the point of holding a popular mandate if you cannot exercise the power that this mandate bestows upon you?

Looking at the possible motives of either side.

Ian Paisley, now 80 years of age, has an eye on his legacy and how he will be viewed by history. A man whose nickname was “The Abominable No Man” would not have been viewed favourable by the history book writers had this legacy been based on his antics over the past 40 years. Ian Paisley’s motives are twofold; he wants to leave behind a positive legacy when he finally leaves this mortal coil and he has come to the same realisation as David Trimble did. Namely that the demographic shifts currently happening in Ulster will lead to an effective Catholic, and ergo Republican majority with 20 years. Holding out longer was simply not an option as he requires a seat at the table to ensure that the needs of his broad constituency are served. Realistically he has nowhere else to go

But what of Sinn Féin? Well they are very canny political operators and Adams and McGuiness wield absolute power within that organisation. They are mindful of the demographic shifts also and if there is one thing that Sinn Féin are famous for it is playing the long game. They too want to exercise power, not the brute force power they wielded in the past where a word from either of them and you would lose your kneecaps or worse, but proper respectable political power. One thing is for certain this development demonstrates, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that political violence can buy you a place at the negotiating table. Does anyone have any doubts at all that this agreement would have ever happened had the IRA not turned to an armed struggle in the late 1960’s?

So who will eventually prevail? Well I personally have no doubt that you will see a consensual United Ireland within the next 20 – 25 years. The Unionist people will happily agree to this union because they will see that it is in their best economic interest and political advantage to do so. Sinn Féin’s task in the intervening period is to lay to rest the ghosts of past acts and build a genuine trust between the communities in Northern Ireland and they will do this, not out of any sense of altruism, but because they must if they are to achieve the long stated aims of their organisation. That, more than any other reason, is why the current process will work. The dynamics are now in place for true and lasting peace and for that I am very grateful but let’s not get carried away with talks of “Miracles”. It’s politics pure and simple and thank God for that.