Tabloid Edition

The best online backup

As one who has been with the PC revolution from the beginning I find it hard to overestimate the value of backing up your data. You only need to lose it once to realise quite how valuable it all is.

However, these days, no one is going to use a floppy disc to back things up (remember them? How quaint it all feels now) and even a CD or DVD drive isn't going to be able to take all the data, simply, from a modern sized hard drive. So the obvious solution is to use Online Backup. We've all got internet connections, after all, so why not use that to make the whole process simple?

Well, the best I've found is at that link above from iDrive. There's a free option if you just want to be able to back up 2GB of data. There are other paid options that allow you to back up the whole family's computers, for business use and so on.

But perhaps there are two really important things about the service. The first is how simple it is to use: once you're set up it takes just two clicks to perform a back up: and we all know that the simpler it is the more often we'll do it. Which is, of course the point about having back up in the first place. If you don't back up data regularly there's not all that much point in having that back up.

The other is that iDrive is the only company that now works across all the major home platforms: your PC, a Mac, iPhone and Blackberry.

We all think of it being our computers and gadgets which are the expensive things: for that's what we see leaving our wallets when we pay for them, the money. But in reality, the expensive thing is the data that we have on them: that's what we spend the time doing and time is indeed money. So back up is essential and with the quantities of data we all have now online is pretty much the only sensible way to do it.

Hey, cheap, convenient and comprehensive: works for me!

The Samoa tsunami

Samoa and American Samoa have both been hit by a huge tsunami after an offshore earthquake of over 8.0 on the Richter Scale.

Reports say that first the buildings collapsed as a result of the earthquake and then the tsunami swept up to 100 yeards into the capitals of both Samoa and American Samoa.

Over 100 people are feared dead, many villages are entireoly swept away and the detah toll is likely to rise as information comes in from outlying areas.

There's a round up of newspaper stories on the Samoa tsunami here:

The Samoa tsunami is headline news across the UK newspapers this morning. An earthquake of up for 8 on the Ricther Scale some 140 miles offshore first damaged many of the buildings and the infrastructure and was then followed by a tsumani which swept often more that 100 yeards inland.

 

At least 100 people have been killed in Samoa by the tsunami, to say nothing of other islands that might also have been affected. The death toll is expected to rise as reports come in from outlying villages that will also have been affected.

Where to get your web design

OK, so we all know that these days we've got to have a presence on the web if we're going to keep out business going. It doesn't matter whether you're actually going to run the business online, sell things, just offer information or provide after sales service: be online you must be.

But then the question becomes, how to get online? There's an argument that this is so important to success that you'd be best off with one of the major companies doing the work for you. But more than that, if you're venturing out for the first time, you'll want to be able to be in close contact with those doing the work.

So if you're in Salt Lake for example, you'd do well to look to a Salt Lake City web design house.

I know, it sounds odd, that distance is important to this internet thing that abolishes distance. But it's true that it's very difficult to do things remotely at first, that human interaction is so important.

Vidyartha College Facebook Virus

Ohh...Lookee....it seems that security at Facebook has been breached again. There's something going on there that changes everyone's entry to claim that they went to Vidyartha College instead of the usualy plethora of high schools that everyone displays.

This could be simply a bug at Facebook's end, this sort of thing has happened before and been fixed pretty easily. But some users are saying that it seems to spread for user to user, cahnging their entry of Vidyartha College as it goes.

That makes it more likely to be a virus, even if not a very dangerous or important one.

The actual Vidyartha College itself is in Kandy, in Sri Lanka:

The primary intention of the Buddhist hierarchy was to establish a second Buddhist school in Kandy . We respectfully remember the untiring efforts of the Buddhist leadership in Kandy of the likes of Sir. T.B.Panabokke Adigar, former President of the Senate, Hon: A. Ratnayake and Mr. M.B. Kulugammana who made this a reality.

The College when first established had only a few buildings with Mr. GDA. Abeyratna as its first Principal assisted by a staff of 08 teachers. Presently there are nearly 3,000 students receiving their education in the College, with a teaching staff of around 150. The College has an enviable reputation not only in the academic fields but also in sports activities as well. The College boasts of several Vidyarthians who have represented Sri Lanka in Rugby , Football, Hockey, Boxing and Table Tennis. The College reached its peak during these 65 years which excelling in all aspects of academic and sports achievements.

Thousands of old boys who have passed out from the school since its inception have continually extended their fullest assistance to the school as brothers of one family. They have proved to be a great strength in maintaining the high standards of the school. When the past history of Vidyartha is examined, it shows that the OBA. has been the main instrument for the bond of fellowship between the old boys.

Essentially, a Bhuddist school run along the lines of an old style British public (ie, private) school.

My guess is that teh Vidyartha College Facebook virus is a little joke by either current attendees or recent graduates.

Pink toed tarantula

There's a lot of searching going on for information about the pink toed tarantula.

Simply put it's a species of tarantula which, when adult, has pink feet: there, bet you couldn't guess that from the name!

Actually, if looks very cute (if you're into spiders that is) and the babies are even more so: the colouration reverses as they mature. So the baby ones are pink all over but with dark little toes.

The reason they're so popular as pets is that they're very calm and rarely attack. They cannot, unlike many other species of tarantula, shoot their hairs into things, although  the hairs on their abdomen can cause irritation and an allergic reaction if you happen to be allergic to them.

Much of the searching going on is for "pink toed tarantula bite" and one would assume that someone's woried about having been bitten. In humans this isn't a problem: about equivalent to a wasp sting.

Although do note, there are humans who are sufficiently allergic to wasp stings (so called anaphylactic shock) that one can kill them. So while the pink toed tarantula is not dangerous, just irritating, to most of us, this isn't true for everyone.

If you'd like to see why people keep pink toed tarantulas as pets, watch this video of one dining.

Britney Spears 3 lyrics

Britney Spears 3, her new single, is now out and here are the lyrics:

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***
Countin'

Babe, pick a night
To come out and play
If it's alright
What do you say?

Merrier the more
Triple fun that way
Twister on the floor
What do you say?

Are - you in
Livin' in sin is the new thing (yeah)
Are - you in
I am countin'!

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***
Countin'

Three is a charm
Two is not the same
I don't see the harm
So are you game?

Lets' make a team
Make 'em say my name
Lovin' the extreme
Now are you game?

Are - you in
Livin' in sin is the new thing
Are - you in
I am countin'!

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***

What we do is innocent
Just for fun and nothin' meant
If you don't like the company
Let's just do it you and me
You and me...
Or three....
Or four....
- On the floor!

If you want more about Britney Spears' 3, more than just the lyrics, then there is this article: Britney Spear's 3 lyrics plus a change to hear the song itself.

Not entirely sure that it's worth it, but for those who like Britney Spears pewrhaps it is.

Natalie Morton

Natalie Morton has just died aged 14. She died as a result of receiving the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.

Whether this was a rogue batch of the vaccine or whether it was simply a reaction to the vaccine itself is not as yet known. However, we knew that someone, somewhere, was going to die as a result of the vaccination program. For someone always does die as a result of a vaccination program.

Yes, sadly, this is true: there are always some who suffer a reaction to a vaccine and in rare cases it will indeed kill some of them. This does not mean that a vaccine is (necessarily) a bad idea. What matters is whether more people are killed by the vaccination program than are saved by it. With some diseases the calculation is simple: smallpox for example. That disease would regularly take percentage points of the population in sweeps through the society: a few deaths here and there are a small price to pay to avoid such horrors. With HPV the numbers are smaller: it is estimated that the vaccine program will save 700 lives a year.

 

If Natalie Morton's death was indeed a reaction against the vaccine, rather than a rogue batch, then she is part of the price that is paid to avoid those 700 deaths. Apologies if this all sounds a little cold and bloodthirsty but that is indeed how public health calculations are made.

Derrion Albert video uncut

This is sickening: the video, uncut, of when Derrion Albert was beaten to death in Chicago last week. But no, it isn't just that we are being presented with an example of mob violence which took the life of a 16 year old bystander. It's that we only know about this, have only heard of it, because someone was there with a camera phone.

There are some 30 deaths a year like this in the Chicago school system. And we never hear anything about those now, do we? It might make a report of a paragraph or two on page 22.

That's what is truly sickening about the Derrion Albert video: not that we see this, but that we do not see and do not know about the other murders.

You can see the Derrion Brown video and further reporting at that link.

Derrion Albert was beaten to death with split railroad ties on his way to the bus stop while going home from school in Chicago last week. A tragedy and a crime when such a 16 year old gets caught up in mob violence.

 

However, what is leading to this story making the front pages is that there is a video of Derrion Albert being beaten to death. Taken with a cell phone camera it is this video that makes Derrionn Albert's death different from the 30 or so that happen in Chicago the same way each year.

Time to get back into real estate?

Maybe it's time to get back into real estate? Sure, it may not be that prices will soar like they did in recent years but it's almost certain that they're not going to slump like they did in the last couple of years.

In fact, now that prices have come back to reasonable levels thnis might be the very time to go back into the market. You can, as a result of all of the government help being given, lock in low interest rates on a mortgage and rents haven't fallen along with prices. It can actually be possible to be cash flow positive on a place bought to rent out now for example. And the craziness has left the market, thankfully.

But if you're going to go back into the market, where are you going to look? I've found this great guide to virginia real estate, really helpful. For it allows you to see the houses on the market from a huge number of different agents. Plus, they give not just the details of the house provided by the agent but also comparative information about other houses for sale in the same locality. Plus of course information about that locality itself.

It's the information about the other houses available that seems so important to me actually: it gives you a good idea of whether the house you are looking at is usual for the area, larger, smaller, whatever.

Go have a look: if you're thinking of getting back into the market that looks like a very good tool.

Melissa Gilbert

This has to be difficult for Melissa Gilbert: returning to a show 35 years after first appearing in it.

Well, actually, it's not quite that bad, but Melissa Gilbert is indeed facing something of a problem. For she is now, at the age of 45, back in Little House on the Prairie, the show that first made her famous as a girl. But instead of playing her old part, as the young girl, Melissa Gilbert is now playing the mother:

Melissa Gilbert may not feel old, but the rest of us sure do.

The star of TV's long-running "Little House on the Prairie" -- she played the young Laura Ingalls -- is back on the prairie. Only now, at 45, she's onstage, in a musical version at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, through Oct. 10.

This time, she's playing Ma. That didn't throw her, Gilbert says, but the singing did.

"My initial reaction was, 'Are you crazy?' " she says. But after two years of extensive training, she now feels confident, especially since she's doing it "with the safety net of material that is like home to me."

She had no impulse to coach Kara Lindsay, the young actress playing Gilbert's old role. "I was too busy trying to get the sound of the woman who played my mother on the series [Karen Grassle] out of my head, to create my own Ma," she says.

There's a number of sayings in Hollywood about how there are no great roles for actresses of a certain age: but to be playing the mother of your own original part has to hurt in a way.